


Communication: In Space

by avagueidea



Series: It's Still Happening [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Relationship, First Time, M/M, Travelling Around Space, the fluffiest of smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2018-09-08 11:22:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 64,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8842795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avagueidea/pseuds/avagueidea
Summary: Keith and Lance learn about Space, Sex, and Communication.(This is really just an excuse for me to write: paladins palling around, alien cultures, smut, and childish banter.)





	1. And Just Like that I’m a Romantic

**Author's Note:**

> This is the direct sequel to [It Just Keeps Happening](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7999129). It was supposed to be a one shot but it ended up muuuch longer because I apparently have no self control! Lol.
> 
> This is gonna just be a lot of soft smut and soft scifi as these two boys learn how to talk to each other.

       The stench of sulfur permeated even through the filter Keith had been given. It made him wonder how much it was really doing at all. This would be a non-issue if he had his suit on him, but they were supposed to stay low profile. They couldn’t blend in with the locals with or without the suits, though, so Keith wasn’t sure it really did any good. Still, he wouldn’t risk taking off the mask, even if the planet’s inhabitants thought it should be perfectly safe for Keith and the other newcomers to their planet. He had yet to locate a nose on any of them, so he wasn’t exactly ready to take their advice on the subject.

       The patchy green and blue skinned aliens were still fairly humanoid, as most of the sentient creatures in space seemed to be. Their faces, though, were the least human-like part as far as Keith could tell. Their eyes were far too the side and eerily dark. They took to bobbling their heads back and forth when Keith was directly in front of them. The sway was almost hypnotic. He had a hard time looking away from the dark pits that pulled in and out of view making Keith’s eyes trail in a continuous infinity sign. The center between the eyes sunk in rather than protruding out with any sort of nose like structure. Keith also quickly realized that, more than any other aliens they’d come across, these seemed to have the heaviest accents, which, if Keith thought about, was almost as strange as how humanoid everything seemed to be. Allura had looked at him like he was crazy when he’d mentioned it, but there was no way she didn’t hear it. He figured it was due to their odd mouths, in which Keith had noted at least to independently moving sets of teeth and couldn’t even spot a tongue, though he was pretty sure it was essential for the noises they were making.

        “What was that?” Keith asked again leaning in and squinting as if that would help him hear. Allura elbowed him sharply from her seat next to him in the back of the clunky 6 wheeled truck. He was startled to find her giving him a harsh look. He wasn’t sure what he’d done.

        “This area isn’t monitored, as it’s designated a preservation,” the alien repeated a bit slower. They turned their head to give one strong eye to Keith, waiting to see if he understood this time.

        “Oh, right,” he nodded, trying to pay better attention since the creature stopped its swaying just to stare him down. He cleared his throat as their transport came to a slow halt. It’d been a rough ride in the windowless back of the off-road supply truck. They’d insisted that nothing be flown up to the remote mountain region, to draw as little attention to themselves as possible, even though the planet wasn’t heavily watched by Galra. It had few resources. Honestly, it had looked like just a rock from space and apparently didn’t even have noteworthy things to mine. It _was_ , however, located central to the Galra empire where messages couldn’t be sent through without heavy danger of interception. That was why they were here.

        “So we just have to set up the comm things and we’re good, right?” Keith asked, trying to show he’d been paying attention and get Allura to stop frowning at him. The door opened and the sulfur smell hit Keith doubly hard before he’d even stepped out. Pidge, who was much more excited about the mission as a whole, hopped out while he was still recovering.

        “Really, Keith? ‘Comm things’?” Pidge asked derisively. He couldn’t see the pout on her lips, because she’d agreed with Keith that anything to lessen this smell was a good thing, but knew it was there. Her unimpressed raise of an eyebrow told him that much.

        “Yeah, with the whatchamacallit and the thingamajig,” Keith replied. He’d gotten good at translating Pidge Speak to regular human talk by now, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t fun to see how indignant Pidge got when he used the wrong terms. He’d quickly felt like Pidge was his little sibling, something he’d never had before, and as such it also felt like his duty to rile her up now and again. Plus, no one ever expected him to make jokes. He wasn’t sure why, but it always got such a good reaction.

        “It’s a scrambler system, Keith! It’s going to catch the scattered signals we’ll be throwing out that wouldn’t otherwise be distinguishable from white noise levels of transmissions and-,” Pidge started and Keith was at least half listening, he really was, until he got out of the transport and looked around. Stark white mountainous spires surrounded them in every direction. They were streaked with vivid reds and oranges leaking out from leveled out lake sized pools. The pools themselves were huge expanses of perfect intense colors, shifting from oranges on the edge to deep inky purples and blues in the centers on the largest ones. A smaller tub sized one near them was even speckled on the bottom with little purpley dots in an otherwise clear pool. Beyond that the distant curve of the chalky mountain range cut sharply into the skyline like jagged teeth all around them, giving a sharp outline of the crisp, nearly cloudless sky.

       Keith gasped, even if it filled up his mouth with that pungent scent. It didn’t even matter. It was beautiful. If Pidge was still talking, he wouldn’t have known. Allura pushed him gently forward with finger tips against his back and Keith was reminded that there were in fact people around him. Just as quickly his mind jumped a step further and he realized he wanted the hand on his back to be someone else’s.

       He was hit with a wave of embarrassment at the fact that he wanted to share this moment with Lance so viscerally it hurt. He wanted to hold his hand and look out over the scenery. That was it. It was such a disgustingly schmaltzy sentiment it felt strange to have. He’d never wanted to share a moment with someone. Sure, he’d worried about Shiro and missed him. And he’d happily let other people occupy moments with him, often he was even happy that they _were_ there. He’d never wanted someone there just because they were right to share the moment with though.

Allura seemed to pick up on his distress; it probably wasn’t too hard to notice seeing as how he just stood stock still and stared at the mountains around him.

        “Keith… are you alright?” she asked, lips a thin concerned line. The hand on his back slipped up to his shoulder to give a reassuring sort of squeeze. Keith looked up to see soft, concerned eyes on him. For a moment he sort of understood why Lance had had a crush on her. She _was_ very pretty, and her eyes were so shockingly bright. She looked picturesque with this perfect backdrop. She fit into wonders of nature like she was one. Still, he’d prefer to be staring at Lance’s stupid face.

        “I’m fine. Just wasn’t expecting… so much color,” he said shaking his head. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but definitely easier than admitting he missed Lance. They’d only been separated for two days. Altaen days, to be fair, which were more like a day and a half relative to earth. Missing Lance after three days wasn’t much less embarrassing to admit, though.

        “They’re pretty, but don’t wander into any of those pools, Keith,” Allura said in such a ‘mom’ voice that Keith found himself straightening his back on impulse. Allura had that sort of effect on him. He didn’t swoon like Lance, but he felt like he was supposed to look presentable for her, that was for sure. “They’re superheated,” she said and Keith nodded. He probably could have guessed that. The closest thing he’d seen to these were thermal springs on earth. These were just… something else, though. “Plus there are protected species in there and I’m not sure your biochemistry would be good for them,” she added as an afterthought, filling in the information he usually would have expected from Coran.

        “Keith! Get the equipment! We have to hike to the spot!” Pidge was shouting, forcing Keith out of his own head.

       He was the replacement Hunk for this mission, since Hunk was busy repairing the castle’s defenses with Coran after their last scuffle. He wasn’t _just_ there to carry equipment. He and Hunk had been trading hand to hand combat for engineering lessons. Both of them new they’d never be able to match up fully to the natural talent of the other, but it made for a pretty even trade off. The lessons had made Keith an acceptable second pair of hands for Pidge at this point, and that was the important thing for this mission.

       The Scrambler was Pidge’s most recent pet project; figuring out how to send messages that were not just encoded but entirely unrecognizable travelling through space, yet still recognizable when they reached their destination. No one quite understood all of what Pidge explained about it. She'd been obsessing about the whole concept since she had her revelation about language in space. Coran and Hunk had gotten the closest, but if neither of them _really_ understood, Keith didn’t feel too bad about it going entirely over his head.

       Their guide walked them a little further off the beaten path, not that they’d really BEEN on a path to start if the bumpy ride up was any indication. He lugged the equipment Pidge pointed out as the first, most vital pieces, leaving the rest for a the next few trips (or, knowing Allura, she’d come with the rest all at once somehow).

       They arrived between two sharp hundred foot, sheer white cliffs. Looking up left a thin strip of clear blue between the white rock. Staring at it reminded him of Lance’s suit, the flash of blue cutting across white. Keith groaned bringing his hand up to his face to try to physically rub the embarrassment away. It had been two days. Well, three, but _still_! This was uncalled for.

       Their guide left them to their work with a polite word.

        “Are you okay?” Pidge asked and Keith stood up suddenly straight, forgetting people could, well, see him. He was still working on being aware of people and the faces he made around them.

        “Uh… yeah,” he said, popping the equipment off his shoulder to swing around in a seemingly haphazard way, letting the momentum of the heavy rod do it's thing. Pidge hissed and leapt forward to ‘save it’, but Keith caught it before it swung all the way to hit the ground, setting it down gently. Pidge scowled.

        “You did that just to scare me,” she accused.

        “Yeah,” Keith admitted. Pidge made an offended noise and snatched up the equipment, lugging it over to the ‘just right’ location she’d determined from the little signal receiver she’d pieced together. Keith was a bit impressed. The pieces were solid metal and not light. He forgot, sometimes, that Pidge was training just like the rest of them. She was no Allura, but, well, none of them were. He felt a little proud seeing the improvement. It had showed in the training room too. Where she’d previously always been the first to tag out in complex training, she was starting to learn how to use her size and agilness to her advantage. He considered that he should start doing more one on one practice with her…

        “Have you been working out?” Keith asked. Pidge paused and set down the piece with a huff, whipping back around.

        “All right Mr. Sighing Because He Misses his Boyfriend! I don’t need your sass,” she informed, breathing a little heavy from the previous effort. Keith blinked.

        “Okay, first of all, I really meant it! That probably weighs as much as you. And second of all! I totally don’t miss Lance! Where would you even get that idea?” Keith replied defensively. He probably wouldn’t have denied missing Lance to Pidge if she hadn’t used it like an attack. Keith could see the smirk in Pidge’s eyes.

        “Aww, you don’t have to lie to me, Keith,” Pidge cooed. “I certainly wouldn’t TELL anyone about your melancholy sighs and how you secretly mumble in your sleep about ‘Oh Lance, you’re so handsome’, ‘oh Lance _kiss_ me’,” Pidge said in a voice that was more like a swooning starlet from a 30s movie than Keith.

        “Yeah, yeah, sure I do,” Keith replied, walking by to swing an arm around and tug Pidge into a headlock. Pidge squawked and tried to pull away, but it was too late; Keith roughly tousle her hair into a complete mess as she squirmed.

       When he finally let go, Pidge leapt back and went into a ready stance, prepared for a second strike. Keith laughed and waved her off. Keith couldn’t help but love the reaction he could get from her. None of the other Paladins ever challenged her. They coddled her because of her size, her age. Keith didn’t think that as a very good reason. They were all saving the universe together, and that meant that sometimes Pidge needed to get teased too.

        “You can’t see it, but you should know I’m sticking my tongue out at you,” Pidge informed.

        “I’m sure you are,” Keith said, smiling to himself as he leaned down to the long solid rod she had dragged over. “Are we standing this up?”

        “Nono! We need the base first,” she said, rushing back over, caution forgotten for the sake of her project.

 

       They worked rather well together. Keith took instruction well, and Pidge didn’t like being questioned ever two seconds, which suited Keith just fine. Their easy silences were always nice. No one else seemed to appreciate that sometimes you just had to get stuff done. Lance, Coran, and even Hunk really didn’t know how to shut up and work sometimes. Allura and Shiro always had too much on their plate. They never would just sit down and _do_ one thing at a time. But Pidge, when she got working on something, just went. Hunk had had to pick her up and physically force her to take a break to eat and bathe a few times. Keith understood that though. Sometimes the only words you needed when working with someone were ‘that one’s and ‘hold this’s to get a job done.

       Even Pidge sometimes felt the need to interrupt their comfortable silence, though.

        “You know, it’s okay if you miss the dork,” Pidge said after some time. Allura had come and gone, leaving her two little quiet paladins to work.

        “Huh?” Keith’s brain took a moment to jump back into social mode.

        “It’s okay if you miss Lance. I miss Shiro and Hunk,” Pidge said, “And I’m not even making out with either of them.” She snickered and Keith rolled his eyes.

        “I’m really okay, Pidge. It’s probably just these fumes getting to me,” Keith assured. He wasn’t sure why he was denying it. It felt like the thing to do.

        “Keith, you’re not exactly subtle,” Pidge informed. Keith paused then conceded.

        “I guess I didn’t think it would be a problem for such a short mission... But when I saw how beautiful this place was, I wanted to share it with him,” he explained in earnest.

        “WOW, okay, that was gayer than I thought it was going to be,” Pidge said bluntly. Keith looked at her shocked, then they both started laughing. “Sorry, sorry! I just didn’t take you for a romantic, man!” She explained.

        “I’m not,” Keith insisted.

        “That sounded pretty romantic to me,” she replied.

        “Yeah, I mean I never _was_.” He sighed. Pidge pointed to the next thing she needed and he handed it over.

        “Aww, that’s cute. And by that I mean disgusting,” she said in a teasingly sweet tone.

        “Yeah, yeah. I know. It’s just weird. I didn’t think I’d miss him so much. I’m not used to…” he paused, searching for words.

        “Feelings?” Pidge offered.

        “I have feelings,” he insisted.

        “Yeah, but like, pleasant ones,” she clarified.

        “I have plenty of pleasant feelings!”

        “Suuure,” Pidge replied.

        “Alright Miss Sassy Pants,” Keith said, making Pidge snicker. “You just wait until you have a crush. You’re going to get this all back tenfold from all of us. You know that right?”

        “Eh,” she shrugged.

        “Eh?” he asked.

        “Eh,” Pidge confirmed with a nod. When she just got a confused stare, she sighed and shrugged, “I don’t know, I’m not particularly worried about having a crush.”

        “What? You’ve never had one?” Keith asked. Sure Keith had never been a romantic, but he’d had crushes.

        “Nah.”

        “No cute boys?” Keith prompted. At the shrug he received he paused then ask, “Cute girls?” Another shrug. “Cute… robots?” he tried. Pidge snorted.

        “Yeah, well, that’s closer!” she said, “I don’t know, I might find someone I’m all gross and gooey for one day? Since I have all of space to look through. It just isn’t exactly my top priority to figure all that out right now.” She shrugged, “I guess none of it seems really important to figure out.”

        “None of what?” he asked, wondering at the add on.

        “Like… what I’m supposed to _be_ and _feel_ and stuff…”

        “Oh… are you worried about it?” Keith suddenly remembered how much younger Pidge was than the rest of them. Four years made a huge difference. Not that he really felt like he knew all there was to know about himself still, but man, a ton more than he did when he was her age. And to go through all that ‘figuring who you are’ stuff out while saving the universe?

        “Worried? No! I mean, I guess yeah so far as I feel like I’m supposed to be worried about it?” Pidge said, her hands had kept moving all the while but finally paused. “I don’t really care, but I feel like I’m supposed to care about all these things. I thought, wow, I’m in space, what will it matter? But it feels like it’s still a big deal,” she said, her brow tugging together seriously.

        “Do you want it to be a big deal?” He asked. She paused and her brow eased up a little.

        “Uh, no. Not really.”

        “Then it’s not,” He said simply. It really wasn’t, if Pidge didn’t want it to be. He paused, seeing Pidge staring at him and did what seemed like a good big brother thing to do. He pulled down his mask, leaned over and kissed the top of Pidge’s head. Pidge made a face.

        “Keith! You’re going soft on me!” Pidge accused throwing out a sharp punch into his arm. “A kiss? Really?”

        “You appreciate that kiss! My mask smells even WORSE now,” Keith demanded. He rubbed his arm, happy that it stung a good deal. She had a decent jab going. He could work with that when they had some training time.

        “I refuse! I take no responsibility for your horrible life decision!” Pidge shouted back.

        “Okay, that’s if, you’re going back in the headlock,” Keith informed calmly, shifting up onto his knees.

        “Noo!!” Pidge clambered up to her feet to hop away. Dropping her tool. Allura would be around soon enough to be disappointed that even her ‘quiet’ paladins were trouble when left without supervision for too long.

 

~*~*~

 

       No one questioned Keith when he slipped away instantly after docking at the castle. Everyone knew where he was going.

       Lance was strolling out of the kitchen in his ‘trying to play it cool’ way. Keith could already hear his forced casual ‘oh, you’re back? I had no idea.’ That was why he didn’t slow his run when he came at Lance. He knew the act that would come if he gave him the chance. When Lance looked up and spotted him he started the little speech, but his expression turned to panic before he got more than a syllable out.

        “Oh, He-WOAH KEITH,” he shouted in alarm. Keith slowed himself just enough to not tackle Lance over when they collided. He let out a forced breath as Keith slid right into him and wound arms around his chest. “U-uh, yeah, hi to you too,” he said with a startled wheeze of a laugh. All the same, his arms came up to return the tight hug automatically. “Did you miss—oh my god, what is that smell? Keith is that you?”

        “Yeah, I missed you,” Keith said into his chest, ignoring Lance trying to push him away.

        “You smell like a rotten egg! Keith. Keith! Let go of me! Oh my god!”

       Yeah. He’d missed Lance…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure what the update schedule is gonna be for this because of the holidays, travelling, and I hopefully will be getting a new job and moving soon (Whoooo!!!)! So excuse me if the chapters come out erratically, lol.
> 
> Also, I really love the idea of Pidge and Keith having a very sibling like teasing relationship. And I just love Pidge, tbh ♥
> 
> Next chapter will have more than 2 lines for Lance too, promise! lol


	2. Readjusting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance stammers and Keith attempts to translate. Oh and there's lasers (pachew pachew)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in this chapter!  
> I have a little bit of a buffer written now so things should come out more more regularly. But I will still be jumping between writing and posting this and [my other fic in this series](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8934418/chapters/20456545). I'll try not to leave either hanging too long, haha.
> 
>  **Edit** : Also! Note that this fic has now been officially rated because I forgot to earlier! lol 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

        Lance leapt back and away from Keith, with so much force, he ended up banging himself against the wall a few feet from the bed as he flung himself to his feet. He left Keith there, halfway to undressed, shirt pulled off only one arm. They’d gotten distracted with what was meant to be a ‘quick peck’ before getting it over his head. He was fairly sure his hair was an absolute mess too, with how much Lance liked to drag his fingers through it. So, over all, Keith must have looked a bit ridiculous.

        Keith took a moment to fully process what had just happened and then promptly jumped to his feet as well, pulling his shirt back on.

         “What?” he burst, ready to leap into battle. _Had he been so far gone he missed an alarm? Was there an intruder?_ His elbow caught on the sleeve and he forced it through, hoping he hadn’t just ripped the stitches in his arm pit. It wasn’t exactly like had an infinite number of shirts; he just had the one from earth which he should really stop wearing so much. Lance didn’t respond, instead he just stood there looking stunned. Keith went to grab his bayard and Lance finally stopped him.

         “Oh my god Keith, calm down!” he shouted, dusting Keith’s hand away from his weapon, “I—you can take your shirt back off! I wasn’t—I mean I didn’t mean to startle you!” He ran a hand through his own hair this time. “Can we just go back to making out?”

         “Uh…” Keith was at a loss, “Sure?” He paused. “Is everything okay?”

         “Yeah!” Lance squeaked out, then cleared his throat, “Yeah I just was startled,” he admitted.

         “By… what?” Keith asked, muffled by the fabric as he properly pulled his shirt off this time. He didn’t need to get caught with only one arm free again.

         “Oh, uh, actually maybe shirt on,” Lance corrected. Keith’s brow furrowed and he looked up to find Lance turning away from him sharply.

         “Why?” Keith asked feeling a little… self-conscious? It wasn’t something he usually felt around Lance. Confused, irritated, aroused, protective, hell, even affectionate he was used to by now, but not self-conscious.

         “If we keep on like this I might, uh, get too into it, if you know what I mean,” Lance said. He was still not looking Keith’s way as he swirled his fingers in little circling motions, as if that pantomimed what he meant at all. Keith _knew_ what he meant, of course, but the swirly fingers were not at all the right hand gesture for it.

         “That’s fine,” he replied, bluntly. It really was. He’d been expecting Lance to get ‘too into it’ for a while now. He’d honestly thought he was going to get laid within 24 hours of starting to date Lance. Not to say he _‘expected it’_ expected it, but it just seemed like what was bound to happen when everything had been settled. Lance hadn’t been exactly shy when they’d started making out. He’d been handsy even before they’d figured out exactly what they were and officially started dating. The handsiness didn’t slow down, but Keith found they pretty quickly hit a wall (literally in cases like today).

        Lance’s eyes shot up to him and he looked a bit flushed about getting the go ahead so easily. Keith tried hard not to smile but failed pretty quickly. So much for looking sexy and cool. He was probably grinning like a doofus already. He tossed his shirt aside and stepped up to Lance.

         “Oh,” Lance managed and Keith love it. Usually that was his line, and there was something nice about turning the tables on him. He liked getting to be the forward one every once in a while. In moments like this he could understand why Lance liked initiating so much. The reactions he could get were so much fun to watch.

        He skirted fingers over the side of Lance’s face and slid them into his hair. Lance swallowed down a bit of nerves and Keith licked his lips. He tugged him forward by his short hair. Lance took in a sharp breath, but Keith stopped him just an inch from his face. He gave him the softest of smooches, barely pressing their lips together. The tease shocked Lance out of his shyness at least. He gave an indignant squawk, followed quickly by a demanding kiss. He then promptly shoved Keith back towards his bed again and followed quickly after.

        Keith thought things were pretty well settled. He’d okayed the advances, wherever they may lead. Lance seemed back to his usual composure as well. Keith let his hands slide up Lance’s torso and back downwards, skirting his fingers around the edge of Lance’s jeans and tracing his thumb over Lance’s hip bone. Lance seemed to be holding his breath but at least he didn’t leap away this time. It felt safe enough to keep going.

        Keith cursed the alien who had given Lance this contraption of a belt. It was some sort of hand-crafted, traditional style clothing that Lance had been gifted a few weeks ago when he’d accidentally saved a moon from an asteroid. The inhabitants didn’t seem to mind that it had been the castle’s fault that the giant hunk of rock was even heading their way to begin with. Lance had gotten a ceremony and everything. He was, of course, insufferable for the following week and was still wearing the belt every waking moment. Keith tugged and tried to blindly figure out how to undo the damn thing. He ended up growling into Lance’s neck in frustration. He felt a shiver run through Lance, but it was followed shortly after by a laugh.

         “Having trouble there, buddy?” Lance asked in a sing-songy tone. He yelped then as Keith bit the base of his neck in retaliation. Lance grabbed his face and pushed it away with an offended expression, as if he hadn’t been the first one to bite _weeks_ ago. “Don’t take it out on me!” Lance demanded, pouting.

         “Look, if I’m the only one who can get their pants off, I feel like that’s more of a loss on your side, Lance…” Keith noted calmly as his face was smooshed between Lance’s hands. Lance squashed his face more in response. That just meant Lance knew he was right, so he took it.

         “You just twist it,” Lance said, looking away as he explained how to undo his belt. Keith was taken aback by how _shy_ Lance was about it. He couldn’t even make eye. Keith reached down to blindly attempted to find the belt again, sliding his hands down all of Lance to find it. He overshot a little in his reach.

         “I thought you were going for my belt!” he protested halfheartedly to the roaming hands.

         “You have to let go of my face if you want me to be able to see what I’m doing,” Keith reminded.

         “Oh, yeah…” he paused before pulling his hands away. Keith looked between the belt and his embarrassed boyfriend.

         “Are you sure you wanna…” Keith hesitated to ask, only partially because goddamn it he was hard, but mostly because it seemed so strange for Lance so be so… tentative. He was sure he must be misinterpreting the situation somehow; it didn’t feel very ‘Lance’.

         “Wanna what?” Lance asked, his suave voice kicking into high gear along with the wiggle of his eyebrows “Kiss every inch of you? Yes, I’m absolutely positive,” He said with a nod. Keith smiled, amused.

        He twisted the belt and it finally popped open. His pants were tossed aside as soon at the belt was undone. Keith’s followed after quickly. When he’d kicked his pants aside he had a thought and, true to the Red Paladin’s nature he immediately acted on it. With a hard shove, and a little leg work, Keith flipped Lance onto his back and threw a leg over him, straddling his boyfriend with a satisfied smirk. He kept him lightly pinned, hands on his shoulders. He thought it might help ease his nerves too. Keith was saying he’d take control, and honestly take anything else Lance wanted to give him. Lance could just sit back and let him do this for him if he was too shy. Keith figured his intentions were pretty well written across his face.

        Lances hands grabbed at Keith’s wrists with serious intent. Whatever he meant to express, though, was it was put on hold for a moment as Keith had already settled down to press back against the tent in Lance’s boxers. “God,” he choked out, his hold on Keith’s wrists momentarily loosening.

        Keith paused, though he didn’t feel the need to move _away_ exactly. He just waited for Lance to compose himself. Keith wondered if he was just ready to fight on autopilot. They fought for everything else; who was big spoon and who was little (even though they both liked both), who got to be on who’s lap for movie night, who got to kiss who first in the morning. Lance had an unfair advantage in the last one because he still hadn’t shared with Keith his secret way in and out of the kitchen which gave him an edge when they didn’t spend the night together. Either way, Keith wondered if he was about to push Keith back over just on principle.

        When Lance found his voice, finally able to look up at Keith hovering over him, he was fairly red faced.  “I don’t want… uh. I don’t want it like this,” he stammered.

        The words hit Keith like the gladiator had just landed a kick right in his gut. Embarrassment flushed over him. “I’m sorry! I thought you meant this was okay,” he said, scrambling off Lance, or at least trying to. Lance had apparently anticipated this, and his hold on Keith’s wrists tightened.

         “I don’t mean I don’t like this,” Lance quickly amended. “God, Keith! This is really fucking amazing!”

        Keith’s heartbeat went from a jackhammer in his chest to a dull panicked throb, but his confusion didn’t subside. Leave it to Lance to be the most confusing asshole in the galaxy. He couldn’t even think of how to ask for clarification so he just stared, hoping Lance would go on.

         “I-uh…” Lance looked to the side. “Just, I mean, this will be great for later or—ahem— but for our first time I wanted to be the one to. For you to—,” instead of speaking the words he pulled his hands back from Keith’s wrists and waved them around until eventually the inserting nature of the gesture became clear enough that it dawned on Keith.

         “Oh! You want _me_ to fuck _you_ ,” Keith blurted. Lance’s hands shot over his face instantly.

         “Oh my god, Keith, you can’t just say things like that,” he announced through his hands. Keith rolled his eyes.

         “Lance…” Keith lowered himself back down against Lance, pressing them together with just the thin cotton of boxers between them. His heart skipped a beat at feeling Lance tense under him, watching him bite his lip through the sliver of his face he should see between his hands. He let the pause last, thankful Lance seemed to need the moment to compose himself just as much as he did. “So that’s the problem? I don’t mind either way,” Keith assured.

         “No, I should—I want to, uh, have you do it to me… the first time we have sex,” Lance said, his hands mostly pulled aside by then, and okay, Keith took back his eye roll. Having _Lance_ say it so directly definitely did something to him. He dropped forward to push their lips together.

         “Okay,” Keith agreed because that wasn’t exactly the sort of request he was going to argue with. And he wasn’t waste any time, either. He shifted them both quickly to find his way back between Lance’s legs. Lance was already all moans and mumbles into his mouth just while Keith was grabbing his thigh to push his legs apart. His hands slid up to grab Lance’s ass and the gasp he got was satisfying enough he had to do it again. Lance gasped again, but clamped his mouth shut at the last moment and swung a punch at Keith’s shoulder when he caught his expectant expression. Keith took the punch without a bit of regret. He shifted in between Lance’s legs, grinding down and pulling Lance up to meet him and this time Lance didn’t hit him for it.

        For a while they just rocked against each, finding a rhythm and getting used to this next half step forward in physicality. Keith barely let their lips part, only pulling away occasionally for a breath and the opportunity to dive back into the kiss and feel it start all over again. He trailed hands down Lances legs, pulling them up and around his waist. Lance cooperated, hooking his feet behind Keith’s back without hesitation. A moment later, though, Lance’s hand went to Keith’s chest to push him back. Keith stared down at him, forcing everything to grind to a halt to hear Lance out, again.

         “If we’re gonna, you know if we’re _gonna,_ I think we need some sort of… something to help with the… getting it in…” he stammered around, and again Keith wondered how he could say so many horribly embarrassing pick-up lines but be so bad at actually talking about these things.

         “Lube.” Keith filled in flatly. Because, right. Lube.

         “Yes! Yeah. Yeah, yep, that,” Lance nodded.

         “I don’t exactly have some handy…” Keith should have thought about this. It just seemed like the sort of thing Lance would just _have._ In retrospect maybe that hadn’t been the best thing to leave up to Lance, or, Keith didn’t know, a magic space pixie to just drop off for them when it was time for him to get laid.

         “Yeah, we’d probably have to see if we could pick something up on planet,” Lance noted and let out a breath. He sounded honestly disappointed, but he also seemed to relax at the same time. Lance shifted up onto his elbows. “Though,” his tone had quickly shifted to the one he used when trying to distract, a little too perky and loud, “I bet you anything there’s some 10,000-year-old KY jelly around here somewhere.”

         “It would be all dried up anyway,” Keith replied, wrinkling his nose at the idea of using ancient _anything_ during sex.

         “Yeah, you’d think, but the Altaens have healing pods that just casually keep people perfectly healthy for a 10,000-year nap. And their ancient super technology was so advanced that Galra still hasn’t caught up even though they had a whole galaxy of resources and shit at their disposal. And, like, they made their super weapons shaped like Lions because, why not? And you’re telling me they don’t have magic immortal space lube?” Lance proposed. He waited for Keith to absorb his brilliant train of logic.

         “I don’t see how any of that follows…” he replied with a furrowed brow.

         “Are you telling me I’m wrong?” he pressed and Keith’s frown deepened.

         “… No… But your logic is totally flawed!” he insisted.

         “But I’m totally right!” Lance was smiling, proud of himself now.

         “… Probably…” Keith admitted, “But unless you want to ask Allura about it…” Keith said, giving Lance a meaningful look. Lance instantly lost his smile.

         “Nooope! Nope, no thank you,” Lance’s arms were waving around widely, attempting to shove the thought away physically before it could take root in his brain. He already looked like he was about to combust at the mere mention.

         “Yeah, Coran would probably be the better choice,” he said as evenly as he could manage. Lance’s eyes shot up to meet his with instant horror.

         “I do NOT need a 2-hour lecture about safe sex from an alien! Oh my GOD, Keith are you serious?! I mean! _Imagine it!_ He would start talking about some anecdote about his past and--,” Lance gasped shoving Keith further back to give himself room to be properly offended, “I do NOT need sex anecdotes from CORAN!” He finally paused enough to really _look_ at Keith and caught the smile he was trying to hide. At the pout he received, Keith instantly broke into laughter.

         “Yeah, let’s not ask Coran,” Keith agreed. He put a hand to Lance’s chest and push him back over shifting back close between his legs. “I guess we’ll just have to make this work for now,” he said, grinding down against Lance. He pulled back a moment later and receiving a less than pleased noise from Lance, but it was stopped short of an actual complaint when Keith unceremoniously shoved a hand into his boxers. Lance’s eyes snapped shut.

         “This will work,” Lance agreed breathlessly. Keith hummed in agreement, stroking Lance a few more times. Another idea struck him and he paused, pulling his hand back, but didn’t give Lance the moment to whine even. He pulled Lance out of his boxers and quickly followed suit before pushing their bodies back together.

         “Okay! Yeah! That’ll work too,” Lance said as soon as his erection was pressed flush up against Keith’s. Keith reached his hand back between them, wrapping fingers around both of them. Lance’s eyes were screwed shut by then with a quiet, “holyfuck.” Keith kept moving his hand, watching Lance’s face shift through expressions. They were somehow adorable and sexy and gorgeous all at the same time, and damn it if that wasn’t classic Lance: somehow everything at once.

        Keith’s hips moved to push into his hand and against Lance and he thought maybe it was a good thing they couldn’t rush right into the full blown sex stuff after all. Just with the kissing and grinding and looking at Lance’s stupidly attractive face Keith felt like he was at the edge already. He slowed his hand down a bit in some hope of lasting just a few more moments.

         “Keith,” Lance gasped, his hand coming between them to join, Keith’s. “Oh god, please don’t slow down. I’m so close,” he said. Just that was nearly enough on its own to wreck Keith, but then he didn’t stop talking. “This feels so good.” Keith should have known he’d talk a lot. He’d only avoided it before because they’d always been making out. “Yes. Fuck.” He kept mumbling increasingly frantically until it was just too much to listen to.

        Keith came over both of their fingers with a quiet grunt that could barely be herd over Lance talking him right through it, “Oh my god, Keith. You’re so-I-Keith,” he stuttered out, still working his hand over them both until Keith was a panting mess and utterly spent. He flopped right over with a breath, his eyes falling shut for a moment. He could just hear Lance continuing on without him and he was just working up the energy to push himself up and help him out, when Lance groaned. He looked back at Lance to find him panting, limp on the bed and covered in his own cum now too.

         “Oh… I missed…” Keith quietly trailed off, a little disappointed when he realized he’d been so busy recuperating he’d missed Lance. “Sorry,” he said, guilty he’d left Lance to his own devices in those two few moments.

         “Do NOT apologize for that,” Lance demanded, breathily. He pushed himself up to level a serious look at Keith, both hands smacking down into the bed. His face contorted quickly into disgust and his eyes shot down in horror at what he’d just done. “I _just_ washed these sheets,” Lance groaned, lifting up his hand to frown accusingly at it.

        Keith blinked but then started laughing. The flip in moods was just too much not to. “Lance you literally just have to take it to the other side of the room to the laundry shoot and it takes 10 minute before it’s back.” Keith rubbed his own hand off on the sheets.

         “Hey!” Lance cried.

         “You already have to wash it,” Keith reminded. Lance seemed to want to argue but he just flopped over instead on his back. Keith pulled up the sheet to whip off his hand a little better before he leaned over to peck Lance on the cheek. “Sorry I left you alone at the end there.”

         “Don’t worry!” Lance blurted, “Getting to see you at the end there… you did fine Keith. You definitely did enough.” Lance said, red in the face as he tried to give the compliment. He reached up to pat his arm. Keith snorted.

         “Still,” he said, and maybe he meant that more selfishly. He wished he’d been a part of it, or at least _seen_ it.

         “Next time,” Lance offered and, well, that sounded promising. Keith smiled to himself. “OH! And also-,” Lance started, but then an alarm was going off, flashing red lights and blaring noise making it impossible to finish his sentence.

        Keith leapt out of the bed automatically, snatching up his jacket and trying to head for the door.

         “Keith!” Lance caught his arm, forcing him to spin around.

         “What?”

         “Pants.”

        Oh.

        Keith spun back around, searching for his pants he’d tossed aside and snagging up his shirt in a hurry. Lance casually sat himself up and sighed as he too used the bedsheets to clean what had gotten on his stomach off. He grimaced as he pulled his shirt on over the less than ideal clean up job.

         “Do you think I have time to-,” Lances question was answered before he even finished it and he looked irritated with how much he was getting interrupted.

         “Paladins! To your Lions. Quickly. We’ve run into a Galra unit!” Allura’s voice called over the intercom.

         “Guess that’s a no,” Lance said, reluctantly hopping up to his feet.

        Keith dashed out the door, not waiting for Lance. He was always the last to the lions on these surprise calls and Keith wasn’t waiting.

 

        By the time Keith shot out of the castle to join the fray Pidge and Shiro were already engaged with a medium sized Galra warship and about a dozen small fighters. That wouldn’t have been too much of a problem, but Shiro was quick to point out the two additional full sided war ships that were coming into view. Each came with a full fleet of fighters in tow.

         “This isn’t looking good,” Hunks voice came over the intercom as the yellow lion launched out next to Red.

        Keith hit the thrusters and launched himself at a fighter heading towards the castle. He took it out, but the new fleets were zooming in ahead of the warships they accompanied. Soon there’d be too many to keep the castle safe.

         “This might be a time to flee, not fight,” Shiro’s voice came over the intercom. That nailed in the seriousness of the situation, if the sea of ships weren’t enough for everyone.

         “Seconded!” Lance said as Blue launched out of the castle. He’d barely had time to survey the situation, but that was just a testimony to how bad it was looking.

         “I’m working on a wormhole to a safe location. Just hold them off for a few moments,” Allura instructed.

         “We’ll do our best,” Pidge shouted back. As the first to launch, she was already fully engaged in battle, attacking the closest warship to try to get past their shields. Keith shot forward to give her cover, leaving Hunk and Lance to defend the castle.

        Shiro, Keith, and Pidge managed to make a fairly decent set of attack runs. They were used to the overwhelming odds at this point. With the legs of Voltron behind them to catch any break aways trying to make a run at the castle, they were free to go fully on the offensive.

        They managed to disable the medium sized warship, but a sea of purple fighters was about to hit them. The fighters wouldn’t make it past the castle’s defenses, but the two large warships in tow certainly would. The large canons on top were already glowing, waiting to get into range.

         “Allura? How’s that portal coming?” Shiro asked, his voice edging on serious in that way it did when things were looking dire.

         “Just a moment. I think I’ve found somewhere to take us,” Allura replied.

         “We don’t have a moment! Take us anywhere,” Lance suggested, Hunk quickly backing him up on that sentiment.

        The first wave of fighters hit and a full barrage hit the offensive trio, forcing them back.

         “Allura,” Shiro said sternly.

         “I’ve got it!” She called back. The huge, glowing blue rune in space appeared just in front of the castle. “Quickly Paladins! We can’t let any of them get through with us or they might be able to signal where we’ve gone.”

         “Hunk, Lance: pick off any fighter that get too near the portal. Pidge, Keith: retreat,” Shiro commanded. He took out two ships on his tail with a quick swipe of his paws. Being the largest lion certainly had a few advantages and sheer brute force wasn’t the least of them. He quickly moved to join the red and green Lions’ retreat.

        The team rushed towards the portal, doing their best to follow orders with the laser fire raining down on them. The castle disappeared and Shiro gave his final order to follow. They all knew the drill by now though. There wasn’t a long time after the castle disappeared that the porta would remain open, and that time was even shorter when they were fleeing. Just before the portal blinked shut, the five ships shot across its threshold. They disappeared into the now familiar blur of the artificial wormhole, shooting them across time and space in a distorted smear.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TO BE CONTINUED...
> 
> this and the next couple chapters will be all directly linked, so a bit of a break from my kinda episodic style? I hope you guys enjoy it!!
> 
> THANK YOU ALL FOR READING AND COMMENTING AND KUDOING! It really means a lot to me and helps my shy ass be able to post the next chapter! Hahaha ♥♥♥
> 
>  **EDIT:** Btw, anyone interested in hearing the story of how Lance saved the moon??? lol


	3. You Got This, Babe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Space battles, pet names, and putting some faith in the bae.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited to binge watch Season 2, guys!  
>  ~~let's see if all my writing becomes AU because it no longer works with canon yaaaaaay!~~

        The attack came out of nowhere. A triplet of hits struck the castle while two others sailed to either side, shooting into space. The shields were, thankfully, already at full power from the attacks moments ago and light years away. The energy dispersed over the hexagonally patterned defenses, rippling around the castle’s protective guard.

        Team Voltron had just come out of a wormhole, barely escaping a full battalion they’d stumbled upon while following up on a distress signal. It wasn’t clear if it had been an intentional trap or coincidence. Either way running into two Galra flagships had not been the best of luck. Only half of the paladins had even made it back into the castle before they were under attack again.

         “I thought you said no one had followed us through the wormhole!” Lance griped as he rushed back to his lion. Shiro and Keith were already outside, defending the castle from the surprise onslaught. Keith had barely made it through the portal before Allura had snapped it shut. It hadn’t seemed like anyone else could have made it in behind him, but here they were, getting pelted with laser fire.

         “No one did,” Allura replied, her voice strong and certain through their helmets.

         “Well it sure SEEMS like we’re still being attacked!” Lance snipped back as he launched out of Blue’s docking bay. Green and Yellow streaks shot out on either side of him as the other two paladins also joined the fray.

         “We should be well outside of Galra controlled territory. All intel said their influence ended lightyears center from here,” Allura said. It was clear she was already searching for any sort of information they’d missed from the lightly distracted intonation.

         “These aren’t Galra ships,” Shiro’s voice informed, ever steady over the com system.

        Another series of bright red energy blasts struck the castle’s shields, shuddering the defense systems. They came from a long, rectangular construction that seemed to be just a line of five cube-shaped laser cannons the size of a small warship. The shield held, but the attack was quickly followed by new streaks of color dodging into the midst of the Lions. They were smaller than the average Galra one-man fighter, and blunt shaped, clearly made only for space travel as they had no apparent aerodynamic qualities. They were nearly as bright a red as the energy blasts that had hit the castle, as their base, but were striped with various colors. This made them a mess to look at through the direct viewer as they burst in every direction. There was no clear front of back to their design, and their flight pattern did little to help clarify.

         “Who are these guys then?” Pidge’s voice cut in. The green lion was chasing one of the striped ships, zipping and dodging back and forth with no luck. One sailed around the yellow lion before it could even turn.

         “I… don’t know!” Allura’s voice raised a little in panic finally. “Coran?”

         “They don’t look like anyone we’ve picked a fight with before,” Coran replied. The paladins could practically see him twisting his mustache at the mystery, trying to recall some 10,000-year-old knowledge that would enlighten the team. The castle shook with another series of hits.

         “We have to take out that line of cannons!” Lance said, trying to move forward, but was quickly met with a wave of blasts from the smaller ships which swarmed on him. Pidge came rolling in with the one she’d been chasing. She’d become so focused on the little ship she hadn’t noticed she was barreling towards the blue lion. While the enemy ship was able to dodge up at the last moment, the green lion was not quite so agile and went sailing right into Lance. The connection was hard and sent both paladins spinning.

         “Pidge! I said to take out the cannon ship! Not _me_!” Lance snapped.

         “Sorry!”

         “Yeah you better-Hey where’d they go?” Lance cut off his own complaint to throw his view around to find the ships that had suddenly abandoned their attack of both of them, despite the clear advantage.

        He found them forming a defensive line between the Black and Yellow Lions and the cannon ship. Shiro and Hunk were forced to stop their joint attack before it had even gotten halfway to its goal. The energy vibrated at the front of the cannons, getting ready for another attack.

        Hunk took a taken a defensive stance between Shiro and the fighter ships, taking the brunt of the attack for him. The hits had little effect on the yellow lion’s thick hull. After another quick set of shots, the ships changed formation. Their blasts concentrated near a joint with magnificent accuracy, particularly on the agile, moving target that was a Voltron lion. Before Hunk could realize the difference in the attack pattern, though, an armor panel had gone flying.

         “Oh shoot guys! GUYS!” Hunk’s voice was frantic. In his defense, he didn’t often take damage like that. He’d crashed through mountainous terrain and heavy laser fire alike in fights. It usually took larger ships to pose any real threat to his heavy armor. Whatever their joint attack just then had been, though, it clearly compensated for their size.

         “Back down, Hunk!” Shiro commanded, retreating as well just as another series of cannon shots sailed towards the castle, “Allura! Brace for impact!”

         “Coran! How are our defenses doing?” Allura’s voice asked as the castle took the hit.

         “Shields holding, but they’re varying their energy patterns. I’m not sure, but they might be trying to find a way through the defenses,” Coran reported.

         “Sounds like we can’t let them get hit like that again. Keith?” Shiro prompted.

        The red lion spiraled past the last defensive ship, coming up in front of one of the recently discharged cannons. The red lion opened its mouth, firing a laser directly into the weapon. A series of internal explosions started from the close range shot which spread to the cannon next to it as well.

         “Way to go Keith!” Hunk congratulated as Red retreated to avoid the swarm of small ships that swept over to his position.

        Before the damage could spread past the second cannon, the they were ejected from the lineup, unfortunately a safe distance away. The remaining three were unharmed.

         “Damn!” Pidge cried. “So close!”

         “Got another one of those in you, hot stuff?” Lance asked, swooping by the red lion to shake off one of the more persistent of the small crafts still on his tail.

         “Course I do, babe,” Keith replied without skipping a beat. A collective groan echoed from the rest of team Voltron.

         “Can you guys please not? I’m trying _not_ to vomit after just being spun around space,” Pidge pleaded. The two, of course, ignored her. The real challenge of the battle began. The team had to try to and give Keith another opening while pretending the two of them weren’t tossing pet names back and forth. It was a struggle.

        The first cannons had gone down easy enough. The team had thought finishing them off wouldn’t be too much of a problem. The bustling little striped ships weren’t giving them any openings though. Every time they moved, it seemed like they were being predicted, a pair of the ships dusting them with warning fire if they even attempted to get close. Even as they tried to pick them off, the maneuverability made hits scarce and glancing at best.

         “This isn’t working guys!” Hunk shouted in frustration as the remaining cannons sent another triplet of red blasts into the castle’s shields. The hexagon patterning rippled uncharacteristically brightly.

         “Uh-oh,” Coran said.

         “Uh-oh?” the paladin’s replied in such perfect unison it would have to be shown in a 5-way split screen.

         “Allura. I suggest a tactical retreat of the castle,” Coran said as the glow of the energy shield fizzled before it dissolved away starting from the impact points.

         “Retreating.” Allura confirmed, “Paladins! Hold them off!” she requested as she set to moving the ship to back out of the cannon’s shot range. At the same time she started work finding another location to make a jump to. Their safe ports were becoming increasingly limited.

        Before the castle had gotten far one of the enemy ships ducked underneath in a brazen move. The other striped fighters were doing a good job distracting, letting the little ship go unnoticed. It found it’s want under the warming up thrusters. It sent a much stronger blast than the little ships had previously displayed right up towards the thrusters. The ship went hurtling back from the blast, looking disabled by the shot, but it managed to halt the castle’s retreat effectively.

         “Our thrusters are damaged,” Coran informed the blaring of warning signals from his panel coming through the com system along with his voice.

         “Paladins,” Allura called, and it was all that needed to be said.

         “We have to form Voltron!” Shiro informed.

        It was natural by now. They couldn’t explain how or why, but it seemed to happen almost on its own. Each paladin knew their hands were moving and controlling the lions. They knew every movement it made was their own, but it wasn’t something they could repeat without all the actual experience of forming Voltron. Something they couldn’t explain. It just happened.

        Keith’s sword was out in a moment. Before the little swarming ships stood a chance, a handful were sliced clean through. The remaining ones scattered. Voltron blasted forward before the scattered fighters could respond and brought the sword down and through the central cannon, leaving a deep scar across the front of the weapon. A flurry of small ships burst out of the back of the giant weapon, shooting off as a series of internal explosions spread from the giant slice. The escaping ships were slightly smaller than the striped ones that were now whizzing by the giant robot at a safe distance. It only took one more fighter being shot down before they all shot off with the escape pods, disappearing into the void of space quickly.

 

        Voltron disbanded with a whoop of success. The lions flew back towards the castle, all but Shiro docking. Leaving the black lion on guard, Hunk and Pidge went to help Coran with repairs. That left Keith, Lance, and Allura to figure out where to transport to next. The original choice had been a hasty one and far from anywhere they’d planned to be. Their whole strategy would have to be reassessed now that they’d been spotted though.

        The princess pulled up the map for them to discuss their possibilities. The trio had done this time and again already. They each had a role to play in decision making. Allura knew the galaxy, Lance had a good eye for spotting strategic hiding places, and Keith had spent enough time with their insider, the vagabond Devenus, that he was their best authority for rebel hide outs and safe havens.

         “It’s a shame we’re getting attacked in this system. It’s the perfect place to hide from Galra otherwise,” Lance noted as he looked at the enemy outposts they’d charted, troop movements, and skirmishes. Allura might have agreed, but there was little to be done with 'if only's at a time like this.

        They hadn’t gotten far into their search before Shiro was calling for all the paladins to return to their lions. The mysterious attackers were back despite the solid ass-kicking they had just received. Lance groaned dramatically. He'd thought he was on his way to a shower in a few minutes, not back out into space.

         “Well good thing I didn’t bother taking off my suit huh?” Lance groused as he stuffed his helmet back on. Keith ignored him. Being jerked around wasn’t fun, but it was what it was.

 

         “No messing around this time. I don’t see a cannon, but the shield is still at risk. We'll form Voltron right away,” Shiro instructed.

         “Yeah yeah, it’ll be easy,” Lance said in a smug tone as he zoomed down the zipline to Blue.

         “They weren’t too much trouble last time,” Pidge agreed.

         “Let’s just make this quick. I don’t like leaving that shield like that,” Hunk added, having to leave Coran halfway through their work.

 

        The lions launched and in an instant they were forming Voltron.

        Except they weren’t.

 

         “UH GUYS!” Hunk’s voice called in panic. Four of the little ships were working together to hold the Yellow Lion in place in reddish beams. They had each caught one paw and seemed to be dampening his thrusters.

         “I gotcha, buddy!” Lance said, shooting out one of them. The other three dispersed immediately.

         “Okay. Let’s do this,” Shiro instructed, now that all his team was clear of hostiles. Again they moved to form Voltron, and again they didn’t. Pidge was now being peppered with shots, forcing her to break off course. Keith swooped in to assist, but the enemy fighters were already swooping away.

        This pattern continued. The ships halted Voltron’s formation by pestering one or two lions and then scattering before much damage could be done to their numbers. They made no attacks, only inconvenienced. It seemed to just be a way to annoy the paladins, really.

         “We’re making zero progress here,” Lance whined.

         “Yeah, well, I can’t make a move without these guys always on me!” Hunk replied.

         “Same,” Pidge noted. “None of us are making any progress.”

         “Speak for yourselves. I’ve taken out two,” Keith replied matter of factly. His first words since they’d gotten back out in the lions. Three back to back surprise attacks had him on edge and he’d fallen into ‘concentrated Keith’ mode. Even Concentrated Keith™ had to keep his record straight.

         “Yeah, like forever ago! What have you done recently, buttercup?” Lance replied. Shiro cut in before that could go anywhere.

         “It’s like they’re always one step ahead of us,” Shiro noted, grimly as he was faced with another onslaught of attacks buzzing around him that dispersed before he could do anything about them. He was tempted to ignore the light attacks, but there was still the missing armor at the yellow lion’s joint as a reminder that there _was_ a real threat lurking.

        Suddenly, there was a clattering sound over the intercom, then Coran was shouting.

         “STOP FIGHTING! STOP EVERYTHING! RETREAT,” he demanded.

         “What? But they aren’t even really hurting up,” Hunk complained. There was a bit of pause, before Allura spoke over the intercom.

         “Return to the castle. Do not engage the enemy combatants any more than necessary to retreat safely,” she ordered. The paladin’s retreated just as the shield sparked up again behind them, forcing one of the small enemy ships to bounce and skitter across the edge of it before it collected itself and flew back into formation with the other.

 

        The paladin’s collected in the command room with Allura, who didn’t seem to have any answers for them despite the order. Coran burst in a moment later, throwing his multi-tool aside dramatically. His shortness of breath suggested he'd run all the way from the engine rooms.

         “Those are Percipere,” Coran announced to a room of blank stares, save for Allura.

         “Percipere? This far from center?” Allura asked, incredulous.

         “They must have been forced back by the Galra, but not even Zarkon would be able to defeat them once they had a strong hold,” Coran replied.

         “Because Zarkon’s tacticians are too well trained,” Allura said, nodding as if everything was coming together. “The red lasers _were_ their trademark,” she admitted.

         “The only reason we lasted this long is because they’ve never seen anything like this lot,” Coran theorized.

         “Because of the paladin’s lack of classical training,” she agreed.

         “And they were caught off guard by Voltron, but I don’t think we’ll get another chance like that again.”

         “They certainly weren’t giving them much of a chance a moment ago.”

         “And as soon as they have reinforcements our shields will be down again.”

         “HEY! Wanna fill us in?” Pidge cut in, annoyed at the two shooting comments back and forth. The rest of the paladins all seemed equally eager to be let in on the conversation.

        Before they could answer, the castle’s proximity alarms started going off. Shiro hit a button to show two larger, bright red war ships pulled into view with similarly blocky designs. They were just a bit smaller than a Galra flagship, and the artillery was clearly displayed in stark white, contrasting against the red. It was like an invitation to hit them, which only meant they must be that much harder to destroy.

         “Those look like trouble,” Hunk noted grimly.

         “They are,” Allura said, straightening up to face her team. “I don’t know why they’ve targeted us but they seem determined. Coran?” She said, deferring to the older Altean. He stood up next to her to address the humans.

         “The Percipere are fearsome fighters and even more fearsome dancers!” Coran started, and the paladin’s stared at the bizarre introduction. “Why I once entered a dance competition with one when I was in my prime, and I was quite the dancer-still am if I do say so myself-,”

         “Coran, please,” Allura said, slightly strained.

         “Right! Right,” Coran waved off the previous story, surely for another time if they made it out of this mess. “Ahem. You never want to fight the Percipere twice-well, except we already have,” He said, thoughtfully twiddling his mustache, “But! Since you’re all unorthodoxly trained, completely foreign aliens which, most importantly, they’ve never seen on the battlefield, we may just get three fights in,” he reassured them un-reassuringly.

         “Okay. I’ll bite. Why don’t we want to fight them twice?” Pidge asked.

         “They are quick studies of tactics, and once they’ve got you pinned down, it almost impossible to surprise them. They know what you’re going to do even before you do! Really, just, very troublesome foes,” he went on, “Sheer force used to be the best way to beat them in space battles, but it seems like they’ve upgraded their weaponry a little in the past 10,000 years. So, without Voltron we seem to be evenly armed.”

        The paladins exchanged glances to each other, wondering if there was any upside to all of this or if it was going to just continue to sound so bleak.

         “All of this means our only hope is…” Coran said, as both he and Allura turned to Keith.

         “What?” Keith asked, staring back and straightening up at the sudden attention. The rest of the paladins followed the Altaens’ eyes. Keith’s arms remained crossed over his chest and his face remained a serious scowl despite the attention. “What?” he repeated.

         “You fight on instinct Keith! We need you to be calling the shots today,” Coran explained.

         “Shiro-,” Keith started, eyes darting to their leader, but Allura stole his attention back.

         “Shiro is too well versed in Galra and Altean tactics at this point, Keith. He’ll be thinking too hard and become predictable,” she said. She gave Shiro an apologetic look, but the team leader just nodded, accepting the information.

        A new set of alarms started going off and they all turned to the screen just as the warships shot a large energy beam into the castle’s shield. The castle shuddered but the shields held.

         “The shield modulations are working?” Pidge asked, and Coran grinned at her.

         “It sure does seem like it,” he said.

        At the curious looks from from everyone but Hunk, she explained, “We reprogrammed the shield to change its resonance randomly after each hit it receives to reduce the risk of them neutralizing it.”

         “It’s still only a matter of time, though, so we still need a plan of attack,” Hunk cut in, with a certainty. Pidge and Coran could get carried away in their theories and upgrades. Hunk often had to act as the wet blanket, which meant reminding the group that however ‘cool’ the plan was, there were still cold hard facts and limits. He’d done enough repairs of the castle and the lions to know them inside and out. Coran nodded, agreeing with his sobering point.

         “So, what do we do?” he asked abruptly, spinning to stare back at Keith. He was trying to force Keith to make a decision on impulse, pushing hard to keep him on his toes. Keith glanced at the ship powering up again on the large screen.

         “Get back out there,” he said suddenly, letting it just come out of him. He looked from the screen to the paladins. “Let’s do some damage before they can break through the shields again. Don’t worry about winning. Don’t worry about tactics. Let’s just rough them up and show them we mean business.” The paladins all turned to Shiro for confirmation and he gave a solid nod.

         “Let’s rough them up,” he repeated. Keith breathed a sigh of relief to have Shiro’s approval, and more importantly, his trust. He didn’t even try to stop his grin as they started out.

        His smile was apparently contagious because as soon as he looked over to Lance, he was wearing one too.  Lance threw an arm around him, and shouted “Let’s do this, _Captain Kogane_! Lead us to victory!” and suddenly the whole team was in an uproar, rushing towards their lions. How easily Lance, of all the paladins, accepted Keith leading this mission made his heart beat a little faster in excitement, or maybe that was the nerves. Either way, it came with the uneasy mixture of anticipation and terror starting to form in his gut. He didn’t know how to lead the team! Hell, more often than not he didn’t even plan his own attacks out until he was doing them.

        Lance stopped them short just before parting ways to their respective Lion shoots. Keith only realized how deep his brow was furrowed when he suddenly let up, his eye brows shooting up in surprise. Lance grabbed either side of his head, yanking him around to face him. The ship rattled again from another heavy hit. All the systems flickering for a moment, enough to shutter the gravity. Lance held tight to his head and it made even the shaky ship under them seem solid.

         “You got this,” Lance said before yanking him forward into a kiss. As hard as Lance gripped his head, he felt just as tight a grip in his chest at the solid press against his lips. It wasn’t a deep kiss, no teeth and tongues, but it was firm in a way that felt just as intimate to Keith.

         “We got this,” Keith agreed, the grin back on his face and feeling even more ridiculous.

         “We all got this,” Lance nodded, ruffling up his hair for a hot second before he pulled away, leaping onto his docking bay’s zipline. Keith followed suit, rushing to his own side.

        They definitely had this.

 

        The paladins flew back out and, following Keith’s instructions, rushed into the battle as recklessly as possible. And it seemed to work. In fact, it was a good deal of fun. At Keith’s prompting, the paladin’s started calling for each other for whatever goofy little shenanigans popped into their heads. It felt a bit like a tea party in wonderland with Keith periodically shouting for them to change tactics. Suddenly all five paladins were rushing about to find something new to do, a new seat in a rush of excitement. They would dart off, leaving a plan half-finished to start a new one. Sometimes they swerved around aimlessly or in faux formations only to break out of them before any attack formed.

Pidge did the best at first, though her trickery was starting to loose it’s edge a few minutes in. All the paladins were making decent dents and damage in the large warship, though, in their own way. It seemed like Shiro was actually having the most trouble abandoning drilled in tactics for haphazard antics. He seemed to be getting a little better at letting go as time passed though. His unpredictability came in harsh violent but elegant attacks, sharp and swift, then back to predictable and routine.

        The lions took mostly superficial damage, though it was clear that wouldn’t be the case for much longer. Not too long in, maybe five minutes, Keith could feel their spontaneity losing its edge. It wasn’t there yet, but it soon would be. He also knew there was only so long Coran could keep fluctuating the shield, at least that’s what he kept reminding everyone over the com system. Keith could feel the tides turning. He had to change the game.

 

        Halfway through a spiraling run towards the big ship, his gut told him it was time. He broke out of his spiral to shoot sharply back towards the castle.

         “Call them,” Keith said, suddenly.

         “What?” Allura asked over the intercom. “I don’t think they’re gonna--,”

        Coran had already hailed them, though. The audio patched through.

         “Yes?” A rich even voice came through followed by a momentary throaty humming. It cut off sharply. So did the attacks. A pause hanging heavily in the air.

         “You have the floor Keith,” Coran informed and Keith’s lion’s dash lit up with full controls over the communication.

         “We are Voltron, Defenders of the Galaxy,” Keith stated. He probably should have thought out the rest of his speech before calling up the enemy battle ship, but that might have taken him a handful of seconds more. Seconds mattered in a fight like this.

         “And you have decided to surrender?” The voice seemed to change pitch for each word, as if trying to decide which voice to speak in still.

         “Abso-fucking-lutely not!” Lance’s voice echoed in Keith’s helmet, but luckily not over to the warships they were staring down. Keith smiled, despite himself and went on.

         “No. I’m here to ask you for a fight.”

         “We are already engaged,” the voice returned, voice moving up and down.

         “Yeah, and blowing each other up little piece by little piece, but why waste a whole fleet and a two warships trying to wear us down when we could just have it out. One on one, hand to hand combat.” Keith had no idea what sort of creatures these aliens were, as the myriad of questions and concerns shooting through his earpiece reminded him.

         “Uh, Keith. What if they’re twenty-foot-tall dinosaur men with sharp teeth and tiny arms but it doesn’t even matter because they’re jaws are so giant they can just eat us in one bite anyway?” Hunk asked all in one breath. He ignored it.

         “Keith are you sure?” Allura asked, and… that was a little harder to ignore. Allura being concerned was a bit unsettling. She might actually _know_ what Keith was about to go up against.

         “Let him do it! We’ve got to keep them on their toes!” Coran encouraged, bolstering Keith’s confidence again.

        The silence from the ship tore it right back down again. The Precipere’s attacks remained paused, but the lack of response was eerie. After a solid minute the voice returned.

         “There will be five rounds of three fights.”

         “Three rounds with three fights each,” He countered instantly, not even sure why he was arguing. He just didn’t want them to get their way, he supposed. It seemed like a bad idea to agree to the terms if they took that long to think it up.

        A shorter pause followed, “If we win you will surrender unconditionally,” the voice finally seemed to have decided on an unnervingly deepm even sound for its pitch.

         “If we win we get free travel in your territories at will with full secrecy,” he countered.

         “Ooo! Good one, babe!” Lance chimed in. If the Percipere were holding out against the Galra empire, their territory could be a valuable safe space. Keith was pretty proud of that thought, though the credit went to Lance, really. His comment in the command room earlier had inspired it. There was another pause.

         “Terms accepted.”

        Keith let out a breath he’d been holding as he waited. Now he just had to figure out how to actually defeat these mystery aliens in hand to hand combat.

         “Tell them we can allow one ship within our shield barrier. We will offer our training facility for the fight,” Allura said and Keith relayed the information.

         “Confirmed. We will meet to fight in 2,000 ticks,” the voice said in all its deep menacing richness, but all Keith could wonder is, who gave time in ticks? He realized this fight might be trickier than he’d thought.

 

        The paladins all gathered back in the castle and all eyes were instantly on Keith.

         “So what’s the plan?” Shiro asked.

        Keith had been thinking about it the whole way back into the ship and his walk up to the command room. He’d run through a lot of different options, but his mind kept coming back to the first thought that had popped into his head when he’d finished setting up the plans. So, he went with it.

         “Lance,” Keith said solid.

         “Yeah?” he asked.

         “No. Lance is my plan,” Keith elaborated.

         “What?” the rest of the crew asked instantly, loudest among them being Lance.

         “Lance is my plan," He repeated. "So, Lance, what do we do?” he asked, turning to his shocked boyfriend.

         “Keith… we gave you control over this mission because we need your sharp _instincts_ and _gut_ reactions,” Coran reminded. It sounded like he was trying to be gentle. He likely knew he was throwing a lot on Keith’s shoulders all at once.

         “Yeah, and my gut is telling me that Lance should decide who we send to fight,” Keith said. “You want my gut, that’s my gut.” He sounded sure enough, apparently, because in a moment all eyes turned to Lance and he looked… a bit horrified. Keith was surprised. Lance always had an opinion about what to do (not always a good one but more often than not). It seemed impossible that this was this the _one time_ he didn’t have an idea.

         “Lance?” Shiro prompted.

        Silence.

         “La-,” Shiro started again, but he was cut off.

         “I don’t know!” Lance burst, throwing his hands up.

         “What do you mean you don’t know?!” Keith shot back before anyone else could get a word in, because, no. Keith knew that was bullshit.

         “I mean I. Don’t. Know,” Lance replied, seeming annoyed. He wasn’t annoyed, though. Keith knew that wasn’t it. He stepped up to him with sharp quick footsteps and grabbed his face, like Lance had done to him only ten minutes ago.

         “You were ready to argue with me about who to send for the entire 2000 ticks it took for those aliens to get to our ship,” he said with every ounce of certainty he had. Lance tried to shake his head, but Keith wouldn't let him. "And whatever you were gonna argue was gonna be _right_." Because Lance was brilliant and Keith was certain that he had this all figured out. “We got you, and you got this. Captain Kogane’s orders.”

        There was a brief war in Lance’s eyes, but Keith held him there, unwavering and sturdy. Lance eventually let out a loud sigh.

         “Yeah! Okay! If you can’t handle being a leader for ten whole minutes I guess I can help you out.” Keith grinned brilliantly. Lance’s face went red and he shoved him away, “Let go of my genius head so I can think up a brilliant plan!” he demanded. Keith did, but not before returning the favor of mussing up his hair.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this fic doesn't feel TOO all over the place, or at least I hope you guys are enjoying it regardless XD;  
> (I have too much fun making up new alien cultures. It's honestly a problem... lol.)
> 
> Thank you for reading! ♥♥♥


	4. Changing Tactics: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fight One.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait between chapters, life's been crazy but I got a **new job and will be moving**!!! I'm hella excited (and a little terrified tbh, hahaha). Honestly, I don't know if I'll fall face first into fanfiction to cope or if I'll be too busy and there will be another mini hiatus.  
>   
>  Either way, I'll post Part 2 of this chapter with in the next two days for sure tho.  
> 

         “We don’t have a lot of time,” Allura reminded the room of all the paladins save for one.

        Keith looked back over his shoulder from his place leaned against the doorway. He didn’t uncross his arms, or even really turn all the way to face her. “He’s got ten more vargas,” he reminded, looking back out into the hall.

        Allura was tense, he understood that. She didn’t like handing over control so completely that she wasn’t even part of the conversation. Keith had insisted it be left to Lance. Only, Lance was just pacing back and forth in the hall, muttering to himself. The other paladins had tried to comfort him earlier, but that was why Keith was playing gatekeeper now. He’d seen Lance’s expression when he’d rushed out of the room asking for ‘a second for his genius to work’. He was being over dramatic but the concept was true. He needed a moment to himself to clear his mind.

        Keith watched him, but he didn’t interrupt. He let him pace in little circles, sit down, throw his legs up to bicycle them around before rolling back over. It was all part of how he worked. The kinetic motion helped him focus. Which was probably why he could come up with some brilliant plans in the battlefield.

        Something changed after another minute or so. He noticed that Lance had stopped moving and mumbling to himself and his steps went from loose and stretching to tight and sharp. Then even tighter, sharper, like he was winding up tighter and tighter.

        Keith ignored whatever the rest of team Voltron was discussing behind him. He pushed off the wall and headed towards Lance.

         “Hey,” he said and Lance jumped.

         “W-what?” he asked, trying to steady his voice. Keith frowned. He wasn't hiding his nerves very well.

         “You okay?” he asked. Lance was instantly nodding vigorously. It was definitely a lie. “You’re not okay,” Keith confirmed and Lance looked offended, even if he didn’t give an argument. Keith looked over his shoulder towards the other paladins then back at Lance, “Do you want a hug from Hunk? Hunk’s back there defending your honor.” Lance’s eyes lit up instantly.

         “I don’t need a hug from Huuuunk,” he lied again, waving his hands dramatically.

         “Okay, I’ll go get him,” Keith said, calmly ignoring him and heading back to get the yellow paladin. Lance didn’t even bother to argue. Not when Keith left, or when Hunk came back with him, or when he was picked up and the air squeezed out of him. He tried to look indifferent, but after a pat on the head from Hunk, Keith could see the effects.

         “You ready to wow us?” Hunk asked.

         “I’ll meet you in there,” Lance said, nodding. Keith waited as Hunk walked back into the command room. He watched his boyfriend take a deep breath. He didn’t rush him, he just waited until Lance nodded to him.

 

         “Grand Master Strategist Lance is here to save all your butts!” Lance announced, breaking into the circle talking lowly about what to do if he didn’t come up with anything. He pushed his way in between Shiro and Hunk. Keith slipped around to an open spot on the other side of Shiro, leaving Lance to do his thing.

         “So let’s hear it,” Allura demanded in such an even tone that, for all Lance’s excitement a moment ago, he faltered. His expression didn’t change much, but his eyes flickered with doubt.

        Keith was about ready to toss his mentor aside to get back to his boyfriend, because it had been stupid of him to abandon him so quick! Before he could start shoving his way to Lance’s rescue, though, Hunk’s hand reached up and firmly patted Lance’s shoulder.

         “Yeah, let’s hear the plan,” Hunk echoed the request, but his voice was the opposite of Allura’s. Keith wasn’t sure if the Princess meant it when she was so harsh and skeptical. He supposed someone had to be on the team, but it grated on him sometimes. Hunk repaired Lance’s confidence in a moment, and Keith felt himself relax. Lance’s eye flicked between his friend and then back to Allura with a cocky grin on his face again. He took a deep breath.

         “All right…” he said. “So, it’s three on three and the longer we fight them the worse a chance we have of beating them, right?” He summarized. He glanced to the Alteans, who nodded. “So, we gotta beat them fast and hard.”

         “So, Keith goes first?” Pidge asked, sending the red paladin an enthusiastic grin. Lance shook his head.

         “Nah! Can’t play your trump card right out of the gate,” Lance said, waving off the suggestion.

         “So Keith will be our closer,” Shiro presumed.

         “That does sound like the best option,” Allura agreed, looking at Shiro, not Lance.

         “No, actu-,” Lance was cut off by Coran breaking out of his thoughtful mustache twisting to speak.

         “That leaves the other two positions,” he said.

         “No, guys-,” Lance tried to speak again, throwing his arms down, frustration starting to build up.

         “I think the best option would be-,” Allura started. She didn’t even need a moment and it made it quite clear, to Keith at least, that they had already come to a decision before the conversation had even started. Lance wasn’t the only one frustration about ready to bubble over.

         “Hey! Will you just let him talk!” “Lance is trying to give us The Plan!” Hunk and Keith shouted at the same time, stunning the princess, and really the entire circle, Lance included. Keith and Hunk shared a glance at each other in the following silence. Hunk grinned and Keith returned with a small smile. The ‘Lance Defense Squad’ was synchronizing well.

         “Liiike I was saying,” Lance started after getting over his initial shock, “Keith will go second.” Keith furrowed his brow lightly despite himself.

         “Well… why?” Coran said, not at all worried he’d be scolded again.

         “I’m glad you asked! See, we’re not going to let them get to three rounds at all, we’re going to win the first two,” Lance stated.

         “So, who IS going first?” Pidge cut in, curiously.

         “We’re putting out strongest fighter out there, well, almost,” he replied.

         “Oh please don’t tell me you mean you,” Pidge said, just ready to roll her eyes.

         “Hey!” Lance snapped, but after a pause conceded, “But no. No we’re talking total beefcake here,” he said, “At first I was thinking of Allura, especially after she picked up Hunk the other day and threw him into his Lion Launcher when he was being slow,” he went on over Hunk’s mumbles about how he’d nearly pulled his arm out of the socket catching the zipline handle. “But! Then I remembered what Coran said, that the only reason we had any chance against them was because they didn’t know what to expect out of us and, sorry but Allura, I’m gonna guess you are like the pinnacle of classical hand to hand combat training,” he looked to her and she nodded solidly.

         “I would not be the appropriate choice for this battle,” she agreed, reluctant but practical.

         “Right! So! Altaens are out,” Lance announced point two fingers are the two of them, “So that means we’re gonna start off with my main man Shiro over here,” Lance said, pulling his hand back to jerk a thumb at the black paladin.

         “I’m still the most classically trained of the paladins,” he reminded, with a light frown, though he didn’t seem to be arguing in earnest.

         “Yeah, that’s why you’re going first,” he explained. “One:,” he pulled up one finger, “You’re going to go in hard and strong and not give them time to even figure out what sort of training you have. I want them on the floor before they know what hit ‘um,” Lance said with such confidence that Shiro smiled lightly.

         “Okay,” he nodded.

         “Two!” Lance put up a second finger. “You have a mixture of training, so if you keep switching it up you might keep them confuse.” He seemed encouraged by just the rest of the team nodding along with him. “Three,” a third finger went up, “If their whole thing is reading people’s strategies, they’re gonna throw away their weakest fighter first as a tester. They’ll think they have the next two rounds to crush us after they figured out how we fight.”

        Coran was grinning ear to ear at this point. “That seems like some pretty solid strategy to me!” he announced. Lance instantly grinned back, nearly as wide. He was always ready for praise from the boisterous older man.

         “So!” Lance went on, his confidence growing. “After Shiro beats the snot outa their scout in the first round; Keith,” he looked to his boyfriend. Keith kept his serious expression, but he could feel the smile wanting to burst onto his face, twitching just under his cheeks. He didn’t realize how much he loved seeing Lance confident like this. How much he wanted to see Lance always believe in himself like this. He did his best to keep his smile in check because he wanted Lance to _know_ he was taking him seriously too.

         “Yessir,” he replied, like he would to Shiro. This caught Lance off guard. His arms fell slack for a moment, dumbfounded.

         “You’re our wild card,” he said snapping himself out of his shock. “You’re gonna just forget all your training and throw them off balance. Go with your gut,” he instructed. Keith nodded.

         “So… who’s third then?” Hunk asked in a ‘please don’t let it be me’ voice.

         “Doesn’t matter,” Lance replied confidently.

         “What?! How does it not matter?” Allura broke in. The other paladin’s looked to her mildly surprised. It wasn’t that the question didn’t resonate with them as well, but the harsh delivery was a little much. Coran’s hand found the back of her shoulder and she relaxed at little.

         “It doesn’t matter because Shiro and Keith here aren’t gonna loose,” he stated, “Right?” Shiro and Keith looked at each other, then to Lance, and nodded.

         “Yessir,” they both said in unison. Lance had to look away, a blush threatening to creep up his neck.

         “I’m serious, you guys,” he insisted.

         “We know, so are we,” Shiro replied sincerely.

         “Oh,” Lance said, then preceded to pick his confidence right back up, dust it off and throw it back on his face. “Alright then! Let’s get down there and ready to go!” he said, starting towards the door before he swung back around, “And everyone better look ready to fight, because I don’t want anyone being sized up ahead of time. So as of right now, assume you’re all on deck for fight number three, okay?”

         “Yessir!” Pidge, Hunk, and even Coran chirped up, each one wearing a smirk as Lance’s face went red. He ate up the praise despite the embarrassment.

         “Come on you guys,” Lance said, starting out of the room. The rest of the team followed along behind him. Keith grinned at how tall he stood leading Team Voltron.

 

 

        Before they reached the training arena Lance pulled Coran aside, asking him to escort the Precipere to the practice room. Coran gave an enthusiastic affirmative, giving Lance a little salute before heading on his way.

        Lance forced his nerves down tighter, holding them closer to the chest. Keith believed in him enough to hand over the reins to him, and the rest of the paladins had at least agreed. It felt strange. As much as he knew they were teasing him with their ‘yessir’s, he still felt a queasy mix of love in respect from it. They’d _listened_ to him, trusted him. Well, most of them had seemed like they did. All except-

        Lance turned around and was faced with a scowling Altean princess standing in his way. She had her hands on her hips and clearly had a few things to say. Lance already felt like he was shrinking under gaze. He tried not to physically slouch under the weight of it. Pulling back his shoulders he did his best to meet her eyes. Fake it ‘til you make it, right?

         “What do you need, Princess?” he asked, speaking the title as more of a pet name than an actual title. He couldn’t help but talk to her like that. It was a nervous instinct when he felt uncomfortable or unsure of himself. That was most of the time standing in Allura’s gorgeous presence.

         “Lance,” she said in her serious business voice. She paused and Lance tried not to actually start sweating under her scrutiny. All of his confidence picked up and fizzled away. The rest of the team was probably just placating him. Allura was here to tell him his plan was awful. She was the barer of bad news, but they all felt it. They just didn’t want to hurt his feelings. So, they sent Allura…

        He was _all_ nausea now.

         “I’ve never defeated a Percipere in hand to hand combat,” she stated. Lance’s mind reeled, yanked out of his self-deprecating spiral to try to figure out how to take her confession. “You cannot count on me as your third. I want you to know that. I’ve fought and trained with many and not once, in all of my combat training, did I win.” She looked at him meaningfully.

        Lance nodded, all her words over the past twenty vargas taking on a much different light. She hadn’t been worried about _his_ capabilities, she’d been worried about her own. Lance decided that ‘nervous’ wasn’t a good look on her.

         “Don’t worry,” he said before striking a finger gun pose and winking. “We got this one for you.” Allura’s hand went over her face to hide a soft snort of a noise that almost sounded like a laugh. When her hand dropped though, she was serious again.

         “I trust Coran with my life. He trusted Keith with our lives, and Keith trusts you,” she said.

         “Yeah! So by the transitive property you trust Lance! Cool story, bro,” Pidge interrupted, leaning back around the doorway, “Can we stop being serious in the halls and can someone help me stretch in case I need to kick some alien ass?”

        For some reason, still a mystery to Lance, Allura couldn’t resist Pidge’s requests. Ever. She smiled softly.

         “Yes, I’ll help you,” she agreed, looking calm for the first time since they reached this side of the wormhole.

 

 

        Lance didn’t realize he was fidgeting until Keith’s hand slid into his and squeezed. When his eyes jumped up to Keith, he wasn’t even looking at him, just talking with the others like there was nothing wrong with them holding hands. Well, there _was_ nothing wrong with it. It still just felt weird to do it during ‘work’.

        He’d come to terms with some PDA pretty quick in their free time, because like hell he wasn’t cuddling up with his boyfriend on movie night! He could do the quick smooch before they parted for battle too. That felt acceptable. Just standing there waiting to meet a new alien species holding while hands felt different. It felt intimate despite how little actual attention Keith was paying to him.

        It was nice...

 

         “Well, in my experience, it seems like a fully integrated prosthetic like your hand still counts as hand to hand combat,” Keith was explaining. Shiro looked a little skeptical.

         “Keith,” he didn’t seem to know where to start his question. “What do you mean by ‘in my experience’?”

        Keith blinked. “I mean in my experience,” he replied. Shiro hesitated, but Pidge piped up.

         “Sooo, you’ve been challenging people to duels all around the galaxy?” She asked somewhere between confused and amused.

         “Oh… well yeah, a few. If they seem like the sort of aliens that will take a fist fight, or knife fight, instead of trying to shoot at the castle,” he replied nonchalantly.

         “ _Knife fight_ s?” Hunk asked, concern clear in his wide eyes. Shiro was pinching the bridge of his nose.

         “You… should probably tell us next time you plan to do something like that,” Shiro said, the long suffering older brother in that moment.

         “Well, it’s not like I _plan_ it,” Keith defended, which really didn’t help ease Shiro’s concerns at all. “When the opportunity comes up though, I’ll take a knife fight over a space battle or a shoot-out.”

         “Keith… don’t get stabbed okay?” Hunk said in his slow ‘I’m worried about you’ voice.

         “I’m not gonna get stabbed!” Keith insisted with rising irritation.

         “Historically that hasn't been exactly true,” Pidge chimed in and Keith’s hand tightened around Lance’s.

         “Hey! That was only once-twi-okay so it’s happened a few times!” Keith admitted. Pidge was grinning. He was prime teasing fodder now. Lance had enough siblings to know that glint in everybody’s eyes when they found their target. As soon as you showed they got to you, you were done for.

         “Leave him alone! He’s doing his best,” Lance said in faux defense. “And it’s no weapons, right? So, he won’t get stabbed... Again.” Keith’s head whipped around and he looked legitimately offended. He had meant to actually be helpful, but, well, it was hard not to tease Keith when he was like this. 

         “Hey!”

        Lance snickered and Keith tried to yank his hand away. Lance had known this was coming and had already readjusted their hands so their fingers were laced tightly together. Keith proceeded to try to pull his hand away but only managed to wave Lance’s spindly arm around. It felt ridiculous and Lance was sure his arm noodling around _looked_ ridiculous too.

        Wiggling arms and a snickering bunch of Paladins was probably not the sight Allura was hoping to see when she came back ahead of Coran and the representatives.

         “… Are we all ready to receive the Precipere?” she asked, and Lance could feel the judgement rolling off her. Keith was pretty obedient, letting his hand drop. Lance did too, but he didn’t unlace their fingers, princess glares be damned.

         “We are ready,” Shiro confirmed, lining up the paladins to receive the representatives.

         “Good,” she said, only for a moment eyeing the still latched hands. Lance had thought he’d wanted to keep holding Keith’s hand to just annoy him, but he could feel his anxiousness returning now that they were being serious again. He squeezed and Keith squeezed back and his nerves subsided at least a little.

 

        A moment later, Coran appeared first in the opening doorway. Behind him were four representatives, the tallest of them half a head shorter than Coran, the shortest right about Pidge’s height. They had basic humanoid form, though it was hard to tell too much else under the flight suits they wore, hemets still on. The suits were was almost as over decorated as their space craft, stripes and strips and drapes tucked into the hard sewn lines that the paladin’s had grown accustomed to for fighter pilots. It was an odd combination.

        The four Percipere walked in a perfect rhythm to match Coran’s, except that was matching his foot fall, not his speed. All of their steps fell at the exact same time. This, with their varying heights, had them trailing in at a staggered rate. Each lined up with no problem despite their random seeming order. Coran watched them come in with a bemused smile at the odd combination of disorder and perfect synchronization occurring at the same time.

         “Paladins I would like you all to meet: The Grand Border Enforcer of the Precipere, the GBE herself, Lisarhy,” Coran introduced in an even more exaggerated version of his usual speech pattern.

        The shortest of the aliens turned to speak to Coran. They were too far to hear the particulars of the conversation, but what was discernible was the perfect timing and energy between the two, both voices light and charming and energized. That explained Coran’s overly boisterous introduction of an enemy combatants, at least.

         “Keith!” Coran broke out of the conversation, the centripetal force of this alien’s speech had kept him circling, moving faster and faster until he was released and his voice flew to the other side of the training arena, unrestrained. Keith tried to hide how startled he was.

         “Yes.” He stepped forward, guarded still, voice clipped and short.

         “This is our Red Lion Pilot, Enforcer,” Coran introduced. He seemed so cheery for how much was at stake. Lance wasn’t surprised a good conversationalist could bring that out in him. The _Grand Border Enforcer_ stepped up to meet Keith.

         “You are the one who called for this fight?” the voice shifted to uneven and the paladins were shocked to realize this was the same person that had responded to Keith earlier as their voice changed entirely.

         “Yes,” he repeated. He was met with silence and Keith tried to just let it stand. When Lisarhy didn’t look like she was inclined to go on, he eventually broke “I thought it would be best for everyone involved, rather than us having to blow up _all_ of your ships.” Lance stared, was that… smack talk from Keith? He felt pride well up in his chest. Lance grinned despite the seriousness of the affair.

        The alien’s head tilted and lifted back up. She reached up to her helmet, flicking aside the dozen small ornamental attachments in a smooth move and pulled it off. Underneath was a surprisingly soft, round face with light speckles running in patterns around it. The light hair that crowned her head was a wild fuzz from the helmet.

         “Ma’am,” her already waiting companion said in a reverent tone, taking the helmet and stepping back into line. She ran fingers through the mess of hair slicking it back easily. For the softness of the rest of her face, her eyes were sharp and unnervingly bright. She reached up and tapped at a black device wrapped around her ear.

         “Will you be fighting?” the voice had fallen to the stoic deepness that it had settled on earlier when speaking to Keith. The change was unnerving but Lance saw that Keith was smiling.

         “Will you?” he shot back, “Or is that what you brought those three for?” His voice fell into a similarly challenging intonation.

         “We shall see,” Lisarhy replied. The second tallest of her fighters was already stepping forward. “Send your first,” she said.

 

         “This is a good sign,” Lance whispered. “They didn’t wait to see who we’re sending. This is definitely to test the waters. Wreck ‘um Shiro,” Lance said, shooting Shiro a grin.

        Just as Keith was coming back, Shiro was stepping up. They paused to pat each other’s shoulders as they passed, mutter a word of encouragement, and then Shiro was face to face with the still fully armored alien.

         “Weapons? Armor?” Shiro inquired.

         “Hand to Hand,” the response came instantly from Lisarhy, keeping the deep tone they had used for Keith. “Keep your armor. You will need it.”

         “Ooo!” Coran said in a low impressed voice. “They are keeping your intonation when addressing the rest of the team, Keith,” he noted excitedly. “They must already have quite a bit of respect for you. You saw how quick they dropped my speech pattern,” Coran said with a little chuckle.

         “Coran, will you please be serious,” Allura said with a light frown.

         “I’m just the one who called for the fight,” Keith replied. Lance could see him shifting uncomfortably.

         “Nah, they probably saw your sweet flying out there,” Lance said, “Though, in that case I don’t know why they didn’t ask for me,” he added, to defuse Keith’s tension with a little bragging. He flashed him a grin and it worked. Keith rolled his eyes but his posture relaxed.

        Shiro’s hand lit up in its purplish glow, drawing everyone’s attention. “Does this count as hand to hand?” he inquired.

         “Use your Galra hand, paladin,” Lisarhy replied, her voice deep and dismissive and Keith was instantly glaring. He bristled, but that was better than nervous, Lance figured.

         “You heard them, Shiro. Don’t forget to use it then,” he said, as if he really had the authority to dictate how the older paladin would fight. Shiro nodded obediently all the same.

        Hands went to Lisarhy’s hips, but a smile came with it. The smile split their mouth not only horizontally but vertically at the center, showing off vicious looking front teeth.

         “Stallaricc Standard Dueling rules?” Keith called across the ring. She nodded, Keith nodded. Lance hoped Shiro knew what that meant, because he sure didn’t. He realized after a moment that of course Shiro did. He had been subject to all sorts of dueling rules while fighting for Galra entertainment. The calmness Shiro approached this duel suddenly made Lance a little uneasy. It was too late to switch strategies now though.

 

 

        The two fighters stepped up to the center of the ring with Coran between them to call the matches. The alien took off its helmet to reveal a very different face than its leader’s. They hard large patches of different colors instead of the speckles. Their features were sharp and angular and their eyes were large and dark instead of sharp and piercing. The two aliens were more notably different than some aliens of _actual_ different species. Lance almost wondered if they weren’t different species.

        Waiting for the fight to start the alien seemed tense and ready to snap. They tapped rapidly on the same sort of device they also had wrapped around their ear. Only at the last second did they settle into a fighting stance. The alien’s tension was so clear, he didn’t blame Shiro for leaping forward, expecting the alien to do that same. Instead he was left doing an aggressive charge at a stationary target. He didn’t falter, though, instead adjusting his posture from defense to full offense to take advantage of the other’s slow start.

        Shiro’s human arm made hard contact with a hastily thrown up defense. He whipped around to make a quick jab and sent the alien stumbling back. The next few hits were much the same. Shiro flew into them without restraint and was met with very little resistance. The defenses thrown up were insufficient. The only real good of them was to keep the points from adding up too quickly against the Percipere.

        No amount of blocking could save round one for the challenger. They were thrown around like a ragdoll and Coran called the fight without any argument. Shiro returned to the sidelines looking a little guilty.

         “That wasn’t much of a fight,” he noted.

         “Round two will be different,” Allura informed resolutely, her eyes locked on the opposite side of the arena.

        On the other side, Lasarhy took the fighters head, pulling it down to their level and tapped at the earpiece a few times. They were then sent back out into the ring. None of the Precipere seemed troubled by their first round loss.

         “Switch it up,” Keith said in his ‘Captain Kogane’ voice. Then looking to Lance he asked, “Right?” Lance blinked, surprised at Keith needing the confirmation.

         “Right!” He blurted after a moment, “Make this like they’re fighting a whole new person.”

        Shiro nodded, glanced at Allura who was tense again. She let out a forced sigh and smile, mostly to placate Shiro, it seemed.

         “Okay,” he agreed, turning back to the ring to find his challenger already waiting for him, despite the beating he’d given them a few moments ago.

 

        Shiro took the same starting stance as last time but made sure he was ready to shift his feet.

        Coran called the beginning of the second round and this time his opponent moved. He came in fast and with a form Shiro had never seen before. He managed to sidestep the hit but it was followed up quickly with another swing. The style suddenly seemed familiar. Shiro switched to a defensive style he learned to use against disgraced Galra infantry thrown into the fighting pits.

        The defense worked but wasn’t progressing the fight. He knew eventually he would wear down and he had no idea of his opponent’s stamina. Shiro decided he had to switch up the game. He went in for the attack. As soon as his stance shifted, the alien’s hands flicked up to his earpiece for just a split second. Shiro knew he should have called off his attack right then and there, but it was too late.

        His arm was caught even as it began to glow, the alien’s gloved hands having no trouble with it. Shifting his weight, the alien slid under Shiro while pulling the arm over his shoulder. Shiro was launched, largely with his own momentum, over the alien’s shoulder. He landed and rolled as his opponent spun around with a broad grin showing those sharp front fangs off, like his commander had. He was bouncing from foot to foot, excited for the next strike.

        Shiro tried to go back on the defensive, but the alien swooped in to make a quick reckless attack. He thought he could turn it around, but found that that reaction had been the plan. His feet were swept out from under him as soon as he’d committed to the counter. He managed to roll away from being pinned, but as soon as he was up he found himself back on the ground. A hit to his jaw resonated solidly through his whole head. He hadn’t even gotten all the way up when he found himself blocking a kick that threw him right back down.

        Suddenly, Coran was shouting the win to the Percipere and Shiro was stunned as he realized he hadn’t even touched his opponent. His brain still felt a little rattled as he retreated back to Team Voltron’s side. Allura looked grim as he met her eyes. He sighed and turned to Lance and Keith.

 

 

 

         “You know what going into the third round means,” Keith stated. Lance didn’t, and the rest of the paladins looked lost. Shiro luckily explained for them.

         “KO, Death, or Concession,” Shiro replied. He looked serious and stiff. He wasn’t going to be creative with that deep crease in his brow.

         “Let’s try not to kill anyone,” Hunk piped in. Shiro looked somehow even _more_ grim and nodded.

         “You can knock him the fuck out, though,” Pidge suggested, at least trying.

         “Pidge! Language!” Lance scolded. The tension broke suddenly at his comically scandalized voice. Lance grinned to himself, a good start. “But yeah, try not to kill anyone. I know you don’t like using that arm to its full potential when we’re not fighting Robotic Infantry, but their suits seem to be able to take the stress,” he reminded.

         “That was surprisingly insightful,” Pidge said, seemingly still sour for being scolded.

         “Yeah, turns out I’m brilliant,” Lance shot back. He glanced at Keith and then back to Shiro, trying to hint.

         “Don’t get tense out there. Stay fluid. Try not to get stuck in your head,” Keith suggested calmly and Shiro actually laughed.

         “I’ll do that,” he agreed, rolling his shoulders and rubbing his jaw from the earlier impact.

         “We need you to win this one…” Lance added, trying to keep his tone light, but it had to be said. They couldn’t afford a first round loss.

         “Then I guess I’ll win,” he replied simply. The younger paladins were all happy to cheer at that as Shiro returned to the ring.

 

        Before his opponent left his side of the ring, Lasarhy had grabbed his head again. She tapped the earpiece a few more times and spoke with their foreheads close. The alien started to pull away, but was grabbed back down for one last, sharp word before being sent to the middle.

        The alien’s expression seemed just shy of an eye roll as he strode over, but when he locked eyes on Shiro he smirked. He got into position and Coran announced the fight. Shiro took a breath before moving, taking his time this time. He was surprised to find Keith’s advice still on his mind. It had cut to the core of his problem. He’s been too far into his own head. He’d felt like he was losing since they were out in the lions. He hadn’t shaken it. He had to now.

        The alien got impatient before Shiro did. After a few glancing altercations he tapped his earpiece twice and his movements change. The alien went from water, ebbing and flowing to avoid and counter into fire, heat and flames, ready to lash out and catch on new kindling. It was a startling change of pace.

        Lisarhy noticed instantly. A harsh ‘tssk’ sound comes from their side of the arena, their mouths apparently made for the sound because it echoed through the whole room. The fighter didn’t seem to notice, or care, that their commander was livid at this change of styles.

        The fight quickly devolved, and Shiro’s nerves vanished after the first few haphazard punches were thrown. This was like sparring with an inexperienced fighter. It was wild and dangerous, and admittedly he took a few serious hits in the fray including a hard kick to the head. It was hard to read what they’d do next, but the form was full of holes. This was much easier to deal with than the last fight, where it felt like the Precipere had known where he’d be before he did.

        Shiro had broken down enough cadets and novice fighters in the ring to deal with this. He was planning to end the fight before his opponent had a chance to reconsider, or notice their commanding officer, nearly vibrating with irritation on the sidelines.

        Shiro managed to put some distance between them. He’d let the alien get a few blows on him, but this round wasn’t about hits, it was about submission. He didn’t have to worry about losing points. He simply had to get the alien to admit defeat. He took the momentary separation to charge up his arm.

        Purple glow trailing behind him, he knew exactly the mistake his opponent was about the make. The Precipere dodged it. The purple glow had a terrifying connotation; he couldn’t blame him for the skittish reaction. Distracted by the purple, Shiro landed a solid hit with his human hand to the gut. Doubled over, the alien was spun around, their legs knocked forward, and Shiro forced them to the ground. He pinned his arms in a solid lock. Breathless, the alien didn’t even struggle at first, too shocked at the sudden turn around.

         “We’re done,” Shiro said as soon as he was sure of his hold. The words snapped his opponent out of his stupor and they began struggling. Shiro yanked the arm back to emphasize his point. He didn’t want to knock them out, or anything worse, but he knew how Stallaricc Standard rules worked. It had usually ended in death in his previous fights, but these weren’t the Galra he was fighting anymore, and neither was he.

         “Nnnno,” the fighter cried, more in disbelief than defiance. Shiro tightened his hold, moving his knee to it pressed painfully down on the alien’s back. “NO!” The alien yanked with all their might, but Shiro didn’t budge. A loud pop sounded as he yanked his own shoulder out of its socket under Shiro’s pin. He yowled.

        Shiro cringed but didn’t budge. He felt the faintest bit queasy being able to feel the sudden difference in tension in the arm, but he needed the words first.

         “Kezh!” Lisarhy shouted from the sideline, in a sound almost as sharp as her ‘tsk’ earlier. Every muscle in ‘Kezh’s’ body went taught under Shiro at the sound. Then all his struggles ceased and his head set down against the floor with a quiet _thunk_.

         “I concede,” he said to the floor. Shiro hopped up instantly letting the arm go.

         “WE HAVE A CONCESSION! Round one goes to the Paladins of Voltron!” Coran called out loudly.

        Shiro reached down to help the fighter up and reached towards their shoulder to check it. Kezh grabbed it first, stepping out of his reach. He nodded curtly, clutching his injury, before stumbling away.

 

        While Shiro returned to the adulations of his team, his opponent returned to Lisarhy. He was tugged down by his ear to yank the earpiece out, the alien cringe as it pulled free. She blew on the inside of it, tapping it a few times before shoving it back in. Lisarhy’s hand snapped back to suddenly start in on a complex pattern of snaps in front of the losing party’s face. She repeated it three times before pulling her hand back and waiting expectantly. The alien repeated something similar to the pattern, but it didn’t seem to please their leader and he was waved off curtly. As soon as he was dismissed the tall one who had taken their commanders helmet was at his side, checking his injuries, and popping his shoulder back into place.

 

         “Boy! You kicked some ass out there!” Pidge hooted at Shiro.

         “Yeah! I didn’t think you were gonna win but then just BAM! You got him! I don’t even know what you did! And then you had him pinned!” Hunk cheered. Allura seemed a little more thoughtful. She was biting the inside of his cheek before beckoning him over.

         “Let me look at your injuries. We might want to get you to the healing pods while Keith fights,” Allura said, pulling him over by the arm. He stumbled forward, not expecting the force in the tug.

         “I’m fine enough to wait out Keith’s fight,” Shiro insisted. The princess pursed her lips.

         “Not if you have a concussion you’re not,” she insisted, lifting his head to see the bruise forming from the earlier kick. “You look like you’re about to fall over,” she scolded lightly.

         “I guess you’ll just have to help me stand for a bit then,” he replied, dusting her hand aside and turning to stand next to her. He let all his weight fall onto her, their shoulders pressed heavily together. She sighed, giving up and slid her arm around his back, holding him up against herself. He smiled lightly to himself but didn’t speak, just enjoying the tight grip of her fingers around his ribs, even if they still felt a little tender from the previous fights.

        He glanced now to Keith and Lance, who had been speaking in low conspiratorial tones after initially congratulating Shiro.

         “It doesn’t matter if you step up first or not. They’re not changing who they’re sending up regardless, they know they need this win. So just go.” Lance was saying certainly.

         “Okay. Okay,” Keith nodded back with a serious expression. Shiro knew the look from years of training Keith. He wasn’t expecting to win the fight he was about to go into. Shiro didn’t like seeing that look. But then Lance did something. He poked him in the side, a single hard jab that shocked the stoicism right out of him. Keith recoiled and looked momentarily scandalized before he growled and tried not to smile at the same time.

        Shiro felt his own tension ease at the interaction.

        He realized he might not have fully appreciated the importance of Lance on the team’s morale. Sure, his own pre-battle speeches seemed to get the team fired up. And Hunk was always ready to help the team forget their worries for a little between battles, letting them rest and recuperate. Lance, though, Lance kept the team from cracking in the heat of battle. Be it to scold him or praise him, Lance had a good sense for when to shift the focus for a moment to break any building tension.

        Watching the two of them, Shiro thought they really had a change winning the next fight, even if he had been given the easiest opponent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mean to have Shiro's POV in this fic at all, but like, I love that boy and I need you all to know how proud he is of Lance! (Because I am also part of the Lance Defence Squad, tbh).
> 
> Next chapter we see if Keith can wrap up the victory or if Team Voltron will need to send out a third fighter!!


	5. Changing Tactics: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fight 2: Keith

         “Go kick some ass, babe!” Lance demanded, pushing Keith towards the middle of the ring. Keith looked back and tried not to smile, but he failed when he heard a chorus of, ‘yeah _babe_ ,’s from his other team members.

        He stepped up feeling the confidence of not only himself, but his teammates bolstering him. The instant he started towards the center, Lisarhy stepped up as well. There was an almost skip to her step, as she waved the other two fighters back.

         “So you decided to fight,” Keith commented, when they were face to face, arms crossed.

         “I thought it was only right to meet the commander myself.” The bounce in her step contradicted the deep evenness she still had in her voice.

         “I’m not…”

         “I would apologize for my younger brother,” she continued over his protest, “Kehz is still learning,” she explained, fingers fiddling with her earpiece as she spoke. “But I suppose you don’t mind that he gave your team the win...” Keith wasn’t going to be upset, that was for sure. He remembered the scolding the younger brother had gotten.

         “The pattern from before,” Keith said, thinking back. “It was Shiro, wasn’t it?” he asked, vaguely mimicking the motions from earlier. He wasn’t sure exactly _how_ the pattern had been Shiro, but it had just _felt_ like him. When he’d mentioned it to Lance, he’d agreed. Lisarhy’s eyes widened almost as large as her younger brother’s big dark ones, then they narrowed again.

         “It was,” she replied. “You know your fighters well. That is the sign of a good leader.”

         “I’m not-!” Keith tried again, but choked on his own protest. He didn’t want to be praised when Lance had recognized the pattern too. Nor did he want to take credit for the team that Shiro had been leading all this time. She didn’t wait for him to correct her.

         “Mr. Coran,” she said.

         “Fight Two! Round One!” Coran launched right into his announcing job, not at all concerned with Keith’s readiness.

        Despite all the bouncing, Lishary was a patient fighter. Her sharp eyes followed Keith as he shifted from one form to another, trying to judge the best way to attack. Finally, he decided all the thinking in the world wasn’t going to help. He charged forward.

        Lishary blocked. It was similar to how the previous fighter had begun, with conservative blocks and advances. It was quickly starting to feel like a complete repeat, in fact, of Shiro’s first fight. Points moved slow, but they were in Keith’s favor.

        Lisarhy’s face was stoic and calm while testing boundaries. Keith found he slowly needed to add more and more effort into sliding around her defenses. Still, he was getting through. Keith wondered if she was going to give him this first round, like Shiro had gotten his. That would help, if he could start with a win like that. He kept steadily building points. His style was more conservative than he might usually be, but if it worked, it worked.

        The mood shifted suddenly.

         “Ha…” Lisarhy’s arm deflected a blow while her hand shot up to her ear and tapped four times in succession then swirled her fingers in a little circle. It was the hard sort of shift that Keith had seen in the third fight with Shiro. Her movements were suddenly entirely different. The results were very different than the last fight, though, and certainly didn't work in Keith's favor. Instead of meeting Keith’s attacks on impact she seemed to predict them. She was sliding into his blind spots before he even knew which way he’d been planning to go himself.

        Keith went stumbling back dizzy from a solid hit to the head. He shook it off to move in again, a kick this time. He sailed just barely to her left as she spun and hit him twice with two clean strikes to his torso. The momentum of the kick kept him going but when he landed he crumpled, rolling to catch himself. She had already spun around, a low kick flying towards him as he crouched. He threw up two arms to defend but it still sent him to the ground.

        Just like that Lisarhy had the first round. Coran was announcing it, but Keith was still in disbelief with how quickly his lead had meant nothing. Lisarhy pushed her hair back to slick it against her head again, pacing with a little bounce in her step. When she met Keith’s flustered eyes, she tilted her head.

         “You have a better song in you,” she commented. Keith wasn’t sure how to respond to the statement. He dusted himself off and headed back towards his paladins, ignoring it instead.

 

 

        Keith expected Lance to whine, or lecture, or something. Instead Lance grabbed his shoulders, turning him back and forth. After a moment Keith realized he was being inspected for injury.

         “Okay. You look fine. You feel fine?” Lance asked.

         “Uh… yeah,” Keith said, irritation at the manhandling soothing away a little.

         “Okay. Good. Go win then. Otherwise I’m gonna have to send _Pidge_ out there to defend our honor,” Lance warned.

         “Hey! Why am _I_ the worst case scenario here?” Pidge snipped back. Lance looked over his shoulder with puckered lips

         “Because you’re the widdlest,” he replied in the cutesiest voice he was capable of producing. Pidge kicked at the back of his heel and he squawked.

         “I’ll win,” Keith said with certainty. He wasn’t sure _how_ , but he’d do it. He realized he’d been thinking too hard about how Shiro would have dealt with the situation. Usually, that was a good thing, but the Percipere were not the usual opponents and this was their commander.

         “You were acting too much like Shiro, and this guy’s gonna be much harder to beat than the first fighter” Lance echoed his thoughts exactly.

         “That’s what I was about to say,” Keith said, admittedly comforted to have his thoughts confirmed.

         “Then I’ve trained you well my padawan,” Lance replied. Keith rolled his eyes and looked back towards the other side of the arena, Lance’s eyes followed his. Lisarhy was still bouncing foot to foot.

         “She’s too excited. I can use that,” Keith said exactly as Lance said, “She’s too excited. You can use that.” Keith paused. He could practically hear Lance’s joke about how they were so ‘n’sync’ they should start a boyband.

         “I know, I know, we’ll figure out our boyband’s name later, Keith. Go out there and win first, though,” Lance ordered and Keith stared. Maybe they _were_ spending too much time together. It didn’t matter because Lance was yanking him in by his shoulders to smash a kiss onto his lips before turning him around and shoving him back towards the ring. “You can even be the moody bassist that writes all our super emo songs.”

         “Is it a boyband if they play their own instruments?” Keith asked, frowning over his shoulder.

         “It is if they all sing and have choreographed dances,” Lance declared. Keith opened his mouth to argue but Lance was having none of it, “Are you stalling for another kiss?”

         “No,” Keith replied instantly, then reconsidered. He stopped and waited. Lance rolled his eyes.

         “After you kick some ass, pretty boy.” Keith could accept those terms.

 

         “Ready?” Lisarhy’s deep voice asked when Keith met her in the middle of the ring. Keith was pretty sure she was amused, but it was hard to tell when the Precipere used their speech patterns in such an unusual way.

         “Ready,” he affirmed.

        Coran called the fight and this time there was no hesitance. The rhythm had already been set and Lisarhy was ready for Keith. For a moment, on instinct, Keith fell into the role he was supposed to play. It felt only natural to follow Lisarhy’s lead. She had a commanding presence. After a few glancing blows, though, he realized what he was doing. He forced himself to stop following. Lisarhy instantly reacted, slipping away and into defense mode. Keith was surprised. He’d barely decided himself and she already knew.

        Keith had a few advantages. He was faster; when she wasn’t predicting him. He might have even been stronger, though that was harder to call. He just needed to keep her off balance enough that she didn’t know where he’d be next.

        Keith decided to do what they had while fighting in the lions. He moved a couple of times, got a few hits, then changed his style. No, not just his style, he had to reorient how he looked at the whole fight: blink and take in the scene fresh. Pretend it was new. Just moved. He was trained well enough; his body knew how to react on its own. He just had to use his brain to figure out where he was supposed to be. Every movement Lisarhy made felt like a dance he didn’t know yet. He was starting to recognize the steps though, slowly but surely they were coming into focus.

 

        When Keith landed a hit and heard Coran shout his win he was startled. He stumbled out of the rhythm he’d created for himself. His limbs felt heavy at his side, like he’d been stopped in the middle of a dance and the music was still playing, he should still be moving. Lisarhy’s eyes were wide and bright, her mouth split both ways by her grin.

         “That was quite a performance!” she called. Her voice had changed. It was still just as deep, but the monotone was replaced with a livelier tempo.

         “I figured you’d want a good fight,” Keith replied, more out of breath than he’d realized.

         “Heh. A good fight it was,” She agreed, “But I’ve got your song now, Red Paladin,” she assured, tapping her earpiece.

         “My song?” Keith asked.

         “You want to hear it?” Keith was interested, he was about to say so, “I’ll show you after I’ve won,” she promised. Keith scoffed but he couldn’t be annoyed.

        Neither left the ring before the third round. They were both ready. The paladins’ cheered from their place on the sidelines. The Precipere tapped their earpieces and discussed something furiously on their side. They all stopped the instant the third fight was called.

        His opponent didn’t know yet, but Keith had the advantage. It was the only thing Lance had said to him with certainty after Shiro’s win, ‘get to the third round’. He smiled at the thought. Lance knew what he knew; that the third round was his saving grace. With no points to end it, this was an endurance test. This was a test of will. Keith could be outclassed in every way and it wouldn’t matter because he would keep getting up.

        Lisarhy leapt into the fight quickly. If it had been either of the previous rounds, in barely a tick it would have already be over. She hadn’t been lying when she said she had Keith pegged. Every strike Keith tried to take was already deflected before it even had a chance. He felt like he was fighting in a lagged timeline. He had to watch himself keep moving even as he saw the block and counter coming, and he could do nothing to stop it. It was always too late.

 

        He was sent flying for the nth time, he’d honestly lost track a while ago. He got himself up, dusted himself off, and knew it was time for something new. He was encouraged by Lance shouting a loud “Wing it!” from the sidelines. Keith shifted back into a fighting stance and smiled to himself.

         “A’right,” he muttered, “Let’s wing it,” he agreed.

        Keith tried to find that perfect rhythm he’d fallen into earlier, but it wouldn’t quite come. It was probably part of his ‘song’ Lisarhy already knew anyway. He was still doing better, though. He got a few hits in. He surprised himself as much as his opponent when he caught her off guard with a solid kick. He’d expected to be dodged, honestly. Instead his foot hit her arm with so much force, and so suddenly that she couldn’t possibly absorb it safely. He felt the crack as much as he heard it.

        They stumbled apart, both shocked. Lisarhy reacted first. She had to reach around her head to tap her earpiece this time, but she was sailing back towards him a moment later. She was different again. It was subtler this time, but even one handed, the fight suddenly became an even worse uphill battle for Keith. This was survival now.

        For every hit she got, every time she threw Keith across the ring, though, Keith got back up. After a particularly thorough thrashing, Lisarhy started laughing a loud, panting laugh.

         “Again?!” She shouted across to him. Keith forced himself up, pushing his sweat drenched hair out of his face. His left eye was getting hard to open, but, hey, fighting one eyed would just make the challenge that much more fun. And that was clearly what this fight needed to be, he thought,  _more_ challenging.

        The fight dragged on. He was sure it was getting boring watching him be thrown around at this point. He rarely got a hit in, but he’d been through worse, and he _couldn’t_ lose. He could feel the anxiousness emanating from Team Voltron’s side of the arena. He was thankful, at least, that they trusted him enough to let him keep going. Maybe they just knew this was the only option…

        Eventually, Keith got another lucky hit. He managed to trip Lisarhy, forcing her into a sloppy pin. It was one he knew she could get out of. She was pressed down with her all the weight on her injured arm, admittedly, but Keith was waiting to be thrown off with ease still.

         “I get it!” Her deep voice resonated through them both with Keith was pressed against her in an attempt to keep her pinned. “I concede!”

        Keith froze in surprise.

         “Off,” she demanded and Keith leapt back and stumbled, falling directly on his ass.

        Now that the fight was over, exhaustion was hitting him hard. The adrenaline that had kept him on his feet fled. He tried to push himself up but his legs fell out from under him. Lisarhy was hovering over him after straightening herself out, her good hand extended.

         “Keith takes the third fight! Giving Team Voltron their second win!” Coran called out elated. There was a swell of cheers behind him but he was still in shock.

         “I would have had to kill you to keep you on the ground, huh?” she asked. Keith took the hand and let her pull him up onto his wobbly feet. She was still solid as a rock. For a moment Keith felt like he didn’t deserve the win he’d just been given. Practicality won over his heart quickly, though.

         “Probably,” Keith agreed. She snorted.

         “Out of curiosity, who was your third?” Lisarhy asked, eyeing the paladins over his shoulder. Keith paused for a moment and then shrugged. Her eyes widened and then narrowed dangerously as the smirk split her lips. “I should have played hard from the beginning. I underestimated the recklessness of the Lions of Voltron.”

         “You underestimated a lot of things it seems,” Keith replied, feeling a little cocky despite the fatigue swirling around his head. The alien ‘tsk’ed.

         “There will be a toll to using our space,” she informed.

         “That wasn’t the deal.” Keith’s shoulders tensed, ready to do whatever was necessary to resettle their bargain. His mind raced, or sloshed forward as well as it could. He could grab Lisarhy and force her to make their verbal contract something more binding. Or maybe-

         “You’ll like this price, I think,” she assured, waving off his worry, “When you are stationed in our space for any extended period, you will come and spar with my team,” she informed, “You won today, but I can guarantee you, you will not again.”

         “I… think that sounds like a fair price,” Keith agreed.

         “I mean it. I know I have your true song this time. Next time I will not be so soft on you,” Lisarhy said, seeming excited already. Keith felt like the fight had been anything but soft, given the throbbing pain of his, well… everything.

         “I’ll have to learn to fight to a new song then, huh?” Keith replied. The laugh he got was a delightful trill, despite the warrior’s deep resonating voice moments ago.

         “Teach your team a little better and they might be worth my cadets’ time as well. It will be good to get a little exposure outside of Galra skirmished and inbred fighting strategies,” Lisarhy said. Despite her position on the Boarder Defense, it was clear the isolationism didn’t sit well with her. Maybe that was why she'd taken the post, to encounter different challenges. It made Keith all the more eager to pay the toll.

         “I promise all of them will be ready to destroy your officers back there by the time we fight again,” Keith said, eager to make good on that promise.

         “Good.” Her laughter came back, though lighter.

        Lisarhy stepped up to Keith then and reached over to their fractured arm, pulling the glove off with a slight cringe. Her hand was pale but her fingertips were stained all the way to the middle knuckles with a deep purple. Her fingers were decorated in a myriad of rings stacked on top of each other. There were no stones or markings on any of them and they were all varying shades of gray from solid black to a single stark white at the base of her middle finger. She pulled two off their middle finger, flipping them to place the top one back down.

         “Your hand,” Lisarhy requested. Keith complied, not knowing what else to do. She held the ring up. It had a matte black outside so dark it looked like it stole the light from around it. The inside, though, was a brilliant, glossy red.

         “This is the ring of a rival to the Percipere,” she informed. “It rings true that you should be the Red Paladin, as it matches our respect for you. Wear this and know it means we will defeat you next time." With that, she slid the ring onto Keith’s middle finger. Keith blinked.

         “Thank you…” he said after a moment. Pride welled up in his chest at the recognition. At the promise of another fight. At the friendship, or rivalry, or whatever this alien was offering. It felt good to know he’d won over an ally, and he thought a damn good one. “It’s an honor,” he added.

         “It is,” Lisarhy agreed. “Now go back to your team. They seem to be ready to burst with excitement.”

         “Yeah…” he said looking over his shoulder at the fidgeting mass that was the rest of the paladins. He turned back towards her suddenly, “Wait! What about my song?” He was met with a shake of the head.

         “I told you you would hear it when I defeated you,” she replied.

        Keith wanted to argue but he couldn’t. “I guess I’ll have to come back again soon to hear it.”

         “I assure you, you will hear it next time we fight,” she replied. Keith let out a single laugh. “May your song be every changing,” she said. Keith nodded and repeated it back. Luckily that seemed satisfactory (it didn't turn out to be a "you say voltron" situation, at least. He was relieved).

 

        The moment Keith got anywhere near his side of the arena, Lance had run over and grabbed him, pulling an arm over his shoulder to help him walk. Keith thought he’d been hiding his limp well, but apparently not. He let his weight fall onto Lance with a sigh. The arm over Lance’s shoulder put his new gift on display for the rest of the group as they neared.

         “Keith! Did you just get engaged?” Hunk burst loudly, grinning ridiculously.

         “Wha-What? No!” Keith stammered.

         “That sure looks like an engagement ring to me,” Pidge teased, adjusting her glasses studiously.

         “No! It’s-it’s a rivalry ring,” He replied defensively.

         “Rivalry ring?” Lance said, eyes snapping up from the ring to Keith’s face. He reeled back as much as he could while still being held by Lance. “You mean you’ll acknowledge your rivalry with this random space weirdo and even get rivalry rings with them but you won’t acknowledge _our beautiful rivalry_?”

         “What? We’re _dating_!” Keith replied, flabbergast.

         “What does that have to do with whether we’re rivals or not?” Lance snipped back with a glare.

         “Wha-no-what? Nothing,” he stumbled over his words.

         “I guess I’ll forgive you for today,” Lance said dramatically, “But only because you saved our butts out there.” He leaned in and gave Keith a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll give you a better one when I don’t think it’d hurt you,” he said eyeing his swollen lip. Keith wondered if maybe they _should_ have sent Lance out after all, because Lance was doing a damn good job keeping him completely off balance. “Come on! Let’s get you and Shiro into the healing pods before one of you passes out!” he announced, tugging him forward.

         “I second that,” Allura added in, shifting her grip on Shiro to throw his arm over her shoulders, ready to help him walk. He seemed well enough to move on his own, honestly, but Allura didn’t seem to care. Shiro made her wait for Keith, though.

         “You did good out there. You were a great leader today,” he informed.

         “Lance did all the hard parts,” Keith assured, trying to make his voice low enough that Lance wouldn’t hear the compliment, which was silly, really. Mostly because he was only six inches away, but also because, honestly, Keith wanted to tell Lance how amazing he was right to his face. Still…

        “You two make a good team,” Shiro agreed. Keith smiled at that. He didn’t look at Lance, but he felt his grip tighten around him. They did make a good team. Between the two of them, it wasn’t so bad playing leader for the day. Having Lance to lean on, literally and figuratively, made it okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This kinda concludes this mini saga. I just really wanted to play with the idea of Lance and Keith having a dynamic co-leadership potential between them.
> 
> I hope you guys are enjoying the aliens and stuff I've been adding in! I've been actually really nervous taking so much time on this, but it's been a lot of fun to write! Let me know what you think! I'm really curious! ♥
> 
> Also, Shout out to the tumblr post about Rivalry Rings! I was dying to use that concept somewhere. It's just so good!


	6. Living Out Daydreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you get the chance to check something off your bucket list.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait on this update! ( ･ั﹏･ั)  
> I'm finally feeling a little more settled in the new city and new job, so hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter out a little faster!! I'm gonna try at least!
> 
> Thank you all for your lovely comments during this unscheduled hiatus! I've been a little overwhelmed by life, but you are all so wonderful and your comments give me life! ♥
> 
> ((I was gonna edit this but I think I just need to get it out there so I can get this moving again, haha))

        Hearing was the first sense to come back when the healing pod finished. There was a soft humming in the back of Keith’s head, not mechanical but pulsing and alive. It made him think of Allura healing living planets with a touch. He hadn’t noticed at the time, but when there was only it to focus on he was certain the sound was the same. Every time they needed a crystal, she would release something that triggered the Balmera to produce the crystals of pure energy, or it was the Balmera responding. Either way, some of that energy, that life, was circling back to him.

        Keith wasn’t sure if he should call the pod a marvel of science or straight up magic. This was true of an increasing number of things he interacted with daily, though. Everything Altean seemed to be on the edge of mystical mixed with technology even Pidge struggled to grasp at times (which meant it might as well be magic as far as Keith was concerned).

        The pod sliding open was signaled by a soft pop of the seal breaking and the soft whirl of mechanics. The atmosphere changed. On instinct, Keith took in a deep breath and the last traces of the healing pod’s thick air coated his lungs. It felt like new air, despite it being the only air he’d had for over an hour. It always made him wonder if the pods stopped him from breathing while they healed him. The concept made him uneasy, to say the least. The pods, in general, were not his favorite place to visit, though.

        As he pulled in his second breath, the air felt thin and malnourished in comparison. That second breath was when his other senses started coming back. He stopped feeling like he was floating, his limbs reconnected to the ground. With the third breath, he was able to force his eyelids open.

        He expected Lance to be waiting for him. Instead, he found Pidge watching over him, or the gleam of her glasses, reflecting off whatever she was clicking away at on her laptop. She looked up after a moment and reluctantly put her work aside.

         “Man, took you long enough. Shiro was out of here 40 minutes ago. You must have really gotten your ass handed to you, huh?” she noted with a grin. Why wasn’t it ever Hunk who was waiting for him outside the healing pods? Hunk always had baked goods waiting for newly healed paladins.

         “You wanna start that training early, buddy?” Keith asked, his voice feeling clunky. He fought through the drowsiness to give Pidge a halfhearted glare.

        Lance insisted it was peaceful coming out of the healing pods, like waking up from the perfect nap. To Keith it wasn’t a relaxing experience; it stole his autonomy. The idea that he couldn’t just wake up while locked in that chamber never sat right with him. He could miss an alarm, a call for help, hell, he could miss a whole attack without even knowing it.

         “You still want to fight after everything today? Jeez,” Pidge said. She hopped over to his side. Keith had been known to rush out of the pods without letting his brain fully reconnect to his body. He had ended up flat on his face more than once as a result. In his defense, Keith would note that is was only when he’d been put into the chamber after being knocked out during a battle. Of course, he would try to jump back into the fray!

         “I’m not too worried about you wearing me out,” Keith teased, smiling a little at how casual she tried to making sure he didn’t fall on his face. She tried to let him keep a little dignity, which was more than he could say for some of the others. So, even if there weren’t any cookies, he didn’t mind waking up to Pidge.

         “Where’s Lance?” he asked after he was also sure his feet were stable under himself.

         “You’re so predictable,” Pidge replied, in faux disgust.

         “Really? I thought the whole point of me fighting was because I _wasn’t_ predictable,” he replied, stretching out his newly healed limbs. For as much as he disliked the concept of the healing pod, he couldn’t argue with the results. Switching his arms, the dark ring caught his eye. He paused to look at it. “How did the deal with the Precipere go?” he asked.

         “I think Coran and Lance were just finishing up the treaty,” Pidge said, scooping up her laptop as they headed towards the door. She matched pace with Keith, having to do a couple quick double steps to keep up. “You’ll have to ask, but when I left Lance was killing it.” Keith liked getting news from Pidge. She didn’t try to hedge her bets in any way, she just rattled off everything she knew.

         “At first they were talking in that ‘you’ tone until Lance got going with his Lance stuff. Then suddenly they were matching him instead,” Pidge recounted, “Coran looked like he was about to weep in joy. He was so happy to see his protégé out there making space deals with weird aliens.”

        Keith chuckled, a very verklempt Coran’s face vividly springing up in his imagination. “Good. So, we can use their protected sectors as safe havens, then?” Keith asked.

         “Dude, for sure. Lance was like, getting them to give us their maps and Galra info or something.” Pidge pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “OH! And it sounded like we can set up a second scrambler relay in their sector I think, so we can have even more encryption possibilities,” Pidge said, her eyes sparkling as she got to explain the most important bit.

         “Sounds like he did a good job taking the lead on this one,” Keith noted casually as they walked towards the main deck.

        As if Lance could sense he’d just been compliment, he appeared around the corner right front of the two of them. He had to skid to a dramatic stop and grabbed at the corner of the wall to catch himself. He still barely avoided running right into Pidge, his leg swinging up as a counter balance just barely missing her.

         “Oh,” he sucked in a quick breath, pushed his hair back out of his face, and stood himself up, “Hey Keith, you up finally?” he asked ‘casually’. His grin, though, made it clear he didn’t care how obvious it was that he’d run all the way there. “Took you long enough,” he rasped out. Keith snorted.

         “You know, some of us had to actually _fight_ with the plan you put together,” he reminded.

         “Ahh, babe, don’t lie! You woulda been disappointed if you didn’t get to fight for the honor of Team Voltron!” he insisted, butting in between Pidge and Keith to throw an arm around Keith’s shoulder. Pidge rolled her eyes and moved to the other side of Keith.

        Keith shrugged because, well, it was true. He would have been dying on the sidelines.

         “I heard you were doing most of the negotiating. I hope you didn’t get too cocky and loose Voltron after all,” he teased. He didn’t mean it though. He was proud of Lance’s ability to talk to all sorts of aliens. He could read their cultures and how to deal with them before Coran had an opportunity to introduce them half he time. Keith only got along with ones who were impressed with how well he could punch them.

        Lance’s fingers leapt delicately up to his chest in mock offense. “You insult me, Keith! I got us all sorts of goodies. Like the Precipere’s last thousand years of battle histories with the Galra, and all their recent movements around the boarder.”

         “And the relay?” Pidge cut in, leaning around Keith, eyes bright.

         “Of course!” Lance said smugly.

         “Sounds like you did really well,” Keith said with a satisfied nod. He didn’t have anything to add to make the compliment backhanded. Apparently, that startled Lance out of his smugness a little, and even seemed to make him a little… uncomfortable.

         “Yeah, well…” he said, trailing off for a moment before he recovered, “-What did you expect? I’m a master tactician, a pro diplomat, an intergalactic charmer. Honestly, is there anything I can’t do?” Lance asked.

         “Take a punch,” Pidge tossed out.

         “Hey! Just because my face is too beautiful to get pummeled doesn’t mean I couldn’t take a punch,” Lance protested loudly around Keith.

         “Are you saying Keith’s face _isn’t_ too pretty for punching?” Pidge asked.

         “No, Keith is so pretty he NEEDS to get his face hit a few times, you know, to even out the playing field a little so the rest of the universe can catch up,” Lance explained, “I mean, he’s trying with the mullet but…” Pidge snickered.

         “Sounds like an excuse not to learn how to take a punch,” she replied.

         “Like you’re one to talk,” Lance shot back.

         “We should make sure you’re prepared in case something like this happens again and we do need a third fighter,” Keith noted, thoughtfully. Before Lance could chime in he added, “Wouldn’t want anything to happen to that beautiful face.” He pulled his hand up to pat Lance’s cheek before he pulled away from his stunned boyfriend, breaking off from the group to turn a corner.

         “Oh hey now, cowboy,” Lance said after a moment, abandoning Pidge to try and sidle back up to Keith. Keith dodged him.

         “We’ll do some combat training later tonight,” Keith said. Lance groaned and stopped trying to catch up at that.

         “I was just sitting for like two hours negotiating,” he protested.

         “Then it’ll be nice to get up and moving,” Keith countered. Keith felt his stomach grumble, trying to eat itself. That healing pods always left him ravenous. “Meet me in the training room in half an hour,” he ordered. Lance looked like he was going to argue but Pidge, luckily, had his back.

         “He’s got a mission early tomorrow with Hunk,” she informed.

         “Yeah! Gotta get to bed early and be ready for that!” he said, giving Pidge and then Keith a triumphant grin.

         “All the more reason to get some training in before you go. You never know if you’ll need it,” Keith replied. He always preferred to be over prepared, and sometimes that included forcing the other paladins into a stricter training regiment than they were used to.

        Lance looked to Pidge for help, but Pidge shrugged helplessly.

         “Captain Kogane’s orders,” she chimed in. “Shiro never officially ended Keith’s reign of terror, so technically he’s still the team leader.”

        Lance looked betrayed, but after a moment he groaned and agreed. Keith smiled and patted his shoulder sympathetically before going to find some food.

 

 

        Keith was surprised to find Lance waiting for him in the training room by the time he got there. There was only so seriously his fellow paladin was taking this exercise, though, if he was waiting in his casual clothes. Jeans were not proper training clothes and Lance knew it.

        He was tossing aside his jacket when Keith arrived. He paused in the doorway to watch Lance’s lanky form stretching, pulling his arm across his chest. His broad shoulders made up for how unwieldy his long limbs might have otherwise seemed. He leaned over to one side, his whole body making a lovely long line reminding Keith that Lance had hit a growth spurt recently and had a handful of inches on him now. He had found he didn’t mind looking up at Lance, or more, he enjoyed yanking Lance down to him when he wanted a kiss. It made it a little more viscerally satisfying when their lips collided with a bit more force.

         “Are you gonna stand there all day staring or are you gonna get in here and let me kick your ass, hotshot?” Lance asked over his shoulder, startling Keith out of his daydreaming. His eyes fluttered and he pushed off the doorframe he hadn’t even remembered leaning against. He must have been there a while, though, if the stiffness in his shoulder was any indicator. He rolled it out quickly.

         “We both know I can kick your butt in hand to hand,” Keith reminded.

         “Right, yeah, because you go around challenging random aliens to fist fights. I remember,” Lance teased. Keith frowned lightly. He could have argued that it had worked out pretty well just a few hours ago, but he let it go.

         “Hey, I know what I’m good at, and it isn’t sweet talking,” Keith replied instead.

         “That’s for sure,” Lance snorted. Keith purse his lips.

         “Just for that, we’re starting with how to get out of locks. Come here,” he demanded. Lance groaned, but complied.

 

        Lance didn’t always say what was on his mind, despite how much he talked over all. Today, there was something hidden under his griping during the training. His quips seemed to be covering something up. Keith was fairly sure most of his snarks and complaints were trying to mask his sincere efforts.

 

        Keith pinned Lance down, face pressed to the floor and arm yanked around his back. Lance had insisted on sparing, rather than letting Keith just teach him and use the gladiator as a sparring partner. It was easier to set training levels with the gladiator. Keith, well, he had a hard time ‘going easy’ on Lance, even if it was for the sake of teaching. Pidge or Hunk he usually could tone it down for, but when Lance and he started fighting…

        Lance let out a frustrated growl and shoved up to his feet as soon as Keith let him go. “You are still so much better than me,” Lance muttered under his breath. Keith wasn’t sure if that was the sort of thing he wasn’t supposed to respond to. It probably wasn’t, but he did anyway.

         “Well, of course I am,” he said matter of factly, blinking at his boyfriend’s frustration. He _always_ beat Lance in one-on-one sparring. That was nothing new.

         “Tssh! Wow, confident much?” Lance said. Despite his frustration a moment ago, he was already moving back into a fighting stance and getting ready for the next round. That was the thing about Lance. He didn’t pick his goals based on what he was good at. He picked them because he _wanted_ them. Keith wouldn’t say he didn’t want the things he worked for, but he tended to direct his goals based on what he had some talent at. It was admirable how hard Lance tried. Still, he hated seeing Lance get frustrated.

         “Let’s work on some different training exercises,” Keith tried. He didn’t want to dishearten Lance by just pinning him over and over again the whole night.

         “One of these days I’m going to beat you, you know,” Lance informed, ignoring the suggestion. Keith looked over, expecting the statement to be in jest, but he was leveled with an entirely serious look. Keith replied without thinking.

         “I could pin you with a hand tied behind my back.” Okay. He hadn’t meant to insult Lance there. It just came out so naturally. Lance glared.

         “Hand to hand, maybe. But you give me my bayard, I bet it’d be a different story,” he said with confidence, and not just Lance Confidence™, but he seemed to honestly believe it. Well, Keith wasn’t going to let a challenge like that pass him up.

         “All right.” Keith walked to where they’d left their weapons hung near the entrance. The purpose of this training session was completely lost. How could be say no to such a direct challenge though?

        Keith thought about the logistics of the fight as he walked their bayards back over. He knew he had to make this close combat, since Lance’s gun would give him a pretty solid advantage at a distance. That didn’t seem too hard. Keith wasn’t sure how Lance thought he’d be able to get far enough away in a one-on-one to even use his bayard. The confidence in his expression didn’t waver, as he caught the weapon tossed at him.

         “You ready?” Keith asked.

         “Yep, let’s do this, pretty boy,” Lance’s eyes sparked with excitement, and Keith did his best not to smile. He was so damn handsome when he was like this. It wasn’t something he’d noticed right away about Lance. The more he got to know him, though, the more he loved seeing those different expressions on him. He loved noticing the real once versus the once he put on for show. He loved—NOT getting smashed in the head with the butt of a rifle!

        Keith ducked and rolled to the side to avoid Lance’s first strike. That would have been an embarrassing way to get a first loss against Lance; gazing lovingly into his stupidly gorgeous eyes.

        Keith squeezed his Bayard. It wasn’t necessary to activate it, since this was another one of those ‘as good as space magic’ bits of Altean technology. It was thought activated, or at least that’s what Keith assumed since he thought about a sword and then got one. The squeeze was just impulse, readying himself for the shift in balance as the blade appeared. It wasn’t quite his usual sword, since they were in the training hall. It had a dulled edge, just like Lance’s shots would be made non-lethal. That didn’t mean either weapon wouldn’t still hurt like a bitch if they landed a hit.

        Keith was impressed with how quickly Lance pivoted and aimed. He’d seen him make some pretty amazing distance shots, but he hadn’t seen him much in the fray of battle with the weapon. Keith was the front lines man, charging in recklessly. It was just good strategy to let Lance hang back. Keith rolled out of the way of the short distance shot that scorched the floor just barely to his left.

        Lance wasn’t playing, that much was clear. Keith smirked a little. He kept underestimating Lance. Or… maybe it was less Keith setting the bar too low and more that Lance was determined to leap past any reasonable goal Keith could set for him. The gun disappeared instantly so Lance could dodge the initial strike and parry the second with the side of the bayard.

        To Keith’s surprise, he didn’t try to make distant between them. It seemed quite counter intuitive. He’d been the one to ask for the bayards in the fight, and he was barely using his. He would, for a moment, look like he was trying to back off, but then he seemed to wait for Keith to catch up. This had kept Keith cautious at first, but as the match wore on, he lost that fear. Lance just didn’t seem to know how to put distance between them. He determined Lance was over anxious to prove himself. Keith charged forward the next time Lance tried to make space.

        It was a mistake. By the time his eyes flicked up to meet Lance’s, it was too late. The smirk was there and he had no idea why. He was too far into his swing by then, though.

        Lance’s Bayard shifted in size, bulking up into a canon of a gun, more like Hunk’s than his own. He didn’t use the hulking thing to shoot. Instead, he just uses the mass of it to throw Keith’s blade far off track, and Keith completely off balance.

        Keith caught himself quickly and whipped back around. He had to stop Lance from using his stumble to get out of sword range. To his surprised, though, Lance pushed _into_ his space, rather than pulling away. The huge gun was gone. Keith thought Lance had retracted his bayard entirely. It wasn’t until he felt the barrel of it press to his chest that he realized there was still a weapon there at all. It was compact, barely larger than Pidge’s this time.

        At this sort of short range, it was like a punch right in the ribs, specifically a punch from _Shiro_ right in the ribs, when Lance squeezed the full hand trigger on the bizarre little weapon he’d created. Or… the bayard had created? He didn’t have much time to contemplate this as he was flung into his back, newly healed sternum aching.

        He tried to roll himself over and up, despite the rippling ache of his entire upper body from the hit. He was too slow. Lance was on him in a moment, pinning him.

        Keith stared up at Lance bewildered.

         “Looks like I win, huh?” Lance asked, smirking down at Keith, who was still reeling at just how he’d ended up on the floor.

         “Looks like,” Keith echoed back numbly as soon as air returned to his chest, not able to think up his own words yet. He wasn’t used to seeing that smarmy grin hovering over him unless they were back in Lance’s room, on Lance’s bed (or occasionally the rec room couch if they were certain no one would be back for a while). And there was that spark again. That gorgeous look of something he loved, Lance feeling proud of himself. All the pain in his chest was worth that fucking look.

 

 

        Lance couldn’t contain his grin. He really wanted to look cool and confident in that ‘of course I won. Are you surprised?” sort of way. He knew he looked like a doofus instead, not able to keep his cheeks in check. Keith looked a little annoyed, brows pinched together, staring up at him. Lance couldn’t be bothered to care. The golden boy had to lose _sometimes,_ right? Gotta keep that ego in check.

        Lance didn’t lose his smirk even as Keith insisted they were done for the night and got up stiffly. He didn’t even let Lance linger and enjoy his victory, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him towards the changing rooms.

        There was no congratulations, or even gruff acceptance. Maybe Keith was mad. Maybe he felt cheated by the surprise tactic. Lance wouldn’t claim it hadn’t been a bit of a sneaky move not to tell him about his new bayard forms. Still, he didn’t think it merited such a tight grip on his arm.

         “Calm down babe,” Lance said, his voice light and floaty and casual, “I mean, so I kicked your ass. It’s no big deal.” Keith kept silently dragging him, even as he gloated, “I mean, it’s not like this is like _your thing_ and I just beat you at it without breaking a sweat,” he went on. He knew he should probably stop, but he also knew he might never beat Keith in a sparring match again. He had to take advantage of this time. “Maybe I should have gone and fought the Precipere instead.”

        Lance chuckled as he stumbled forward as Keith gave his wrist a sharp tug to toss him into the changing room ahead of himself. Despite his laugh, he was starting to lose his confidence a little. Insecurity edged at the corner of his mind. Maybe it _was_ a little cheap. Maybe he shouldn’t have pushed Keith so hard right after he’d saved their asses and won them an intergalactic friend. Maybe he was being a jerk…

         “Look, Keith-,” he started, his voice apologetic, almost nervous, as he turned around. He cut off sharply when he felt Keith’s hands pushing up his chest and around the back of his neck. His eyes flicked between the hands and Keith, who was wearing a smirk that absolutely meant trouble. Every since time. They’d both ended up in a tiny single cell jail on some middle of nowhere, one road moon-town last time he’d seen it.

         “So, remember before we were dating,” Keith started, “You told me how back at the garrison sometimes you’d daydream about what would happen when you finally beat me?” he asked. Lance’s brain slammed on the breaks and proceeded to back pedal all those months. Holy hell, had he really said that back then? Why, _why_ would he think it was okay to say that back then? They hadn’t even been dating.

        Lance manage to nod and keep his cringing mostly internal. That was apparently good enough for Keith.

         “You still have those sorts of daydreams?” he asked. His fingers were raking through the back of Lance’s hair now. Lance didn’t realize he was being pushed backwards until he ran into the wall. He glanced between the wall and Keith, who was waiting patiently for a response.

         “I-uh-yeah, maybe sometimes. What’s it to ya?” Lance asked. He had to close his eyes because, what sort of response was that? Who even _said_ that?

         “Just wondering…”

        The fingers started to leave his hair and he snapped his eyes open to watch Keith’s hands slide down him as he dropped down onto his knees. He must have been staring, his eyes as wide and flustered as he felt, because when Keith looked up at him, he laughed.

        Keith paused at the button on Lance’s jeans. “You’ll have to think up something new to day dream about,” Keith noted, flicking the button open.

         “Nope. Nah. I think I’ll be good on day dream material for a while. Like, really good on it, like I might have a lifetime supply right now with this, with all of this,” he rambled, as Keith stared back at him, eyes locked as he pulled down Lance’s zipper. Any scrap of intelligible thought rushed out of Lance’s head then. This was some cheesy jack-off fantasy he’d had years ago and been honestly too deep in denial to acknowledge it as anything but a ‘fuck you’ to the very thought of Keith. That ‘fuck you’ was quickly becoming a ‘fuck me’ as Keith palmed Lance through his boxers.

         “I’m preeetty sure I can give you something better to daydream about in a second here,” he said, smirking as Lance stared down at him speechless. His fingers hooked the top of Lance’s boxers and-and woah! Hold on.

         “Keith! Someone could walk in here!” Lance protested suddenly, hands waving dramatically without any will power to actually do anything to stop Keith.

         “I’m pretty sure you won’t last long,” Keith replied simply, one raised eyebrow. His fingers had paused, though.

         “Fuck you!” he burst automatically.

         “I was just gonna suck you off, actually,” he replied and goddamn if hearing the words wasn’t the most convincing argument in the world.

         “Who the hell would come in here this late anyways,” Lance quickly rationalized, “Other than YOU,” he tagged on.

         “And I’m kinda busy doing other things, so I’m not gonna walk in on us,” Keith said, a fingertip traced the edge of Lance’s boxers then his whole hand slid up to grip his hip. Lance could have melted as the other set of calloused fingers followed suit.

        Lance pulled a hand over his mouth, eyes screwing shut, “Yeahokaydoit,” he slurred into his palm.

         “Huh?” Keith’s hands paused.

         “Yeah, go ahead,” Lance said with painfully embarrassing clarity.

         “You sure?” Keith’s tone was only half teasing. The suddenly gentler grasp on his side gave away his honest concern. Lance’s heartrate dropped… a little. It fell at least out of panicked range to just normal turned-on range. Keith was looking up at him still, his thumbs rubbing soothing circles over his hipbones as he waited. He looked so goddamn sincere and handsome, and he was looking at nothing but Lance. Confidence flared up in Lance’s chest, like a fire stoked by every solid but soft touch of Keith’s hands.

        "Abso-fucking-lutely,” he said, his grin back. Because, well, abso-fucking-lutely.

        Keith licked his lips, and Lance could have died right there. He nearly did. The only thing that kept him tethered to this plain of existence was the grip on his hips and the knowledge that Keith Kogane was about to give him a victory blowjob and it would be a travesty to die right before living out one of his teenage dreams.

        Keith finally broke eye contact, ready to get down to business. As they fell his eyes flashing with the sort of determination they did before a battle he was just itching to fight. He wasted no time on tugging Lance’s jeans and boxers down, pulling his erection free. Lance was already hard just from sheer anticipation. He felt his face heat up when Keith’s was left inches from his dick. He barely had a chance to be truly embarrassed before Keith’s hand wrapped around the base and he leaned forward to press a wet, open kiss to the head.

        Lance reconsidered if he could survive this. Just that, his tongue barely running over the tip, the hint at the warm wetness, had him breathless. His eyes were closed as he tried to center himself so he’d have more than a few seconds to experience what was to come. He was given a moment to collect himself when Keith pulled away.

         “I’ve never done this before,” Keith said after a moment, his tone a little too serious.

         “That’s cool,” Lance breathed because, hell, he had no idea what else to say. He didn’t care. Why would he care?

         “So, no making fun of me if I’m not very good at it,” Keith insisted. Lance’s eyes shot open to stare down at his boyfriend.

         “Babe. I swear to god, I could come at the _thought_ of you blowing me—,” Lance flashed back, reliving his garrison days for a moment, “Correction I HAVE come at the thought of you blowing me, so I don’t think it matters.”

        Keith let out a short puff of a laugh and was smiling again, “All right then,” he murmured, leaning back in and didn’t hesitate to take Lance into his mouth. Lance nearly fell over. He had no idea why he thought he could stand through this.

        He braced himself against the wall behind him, thankful for at least that as Keith took more of him into his mouth, experimentally sucking. Lance felt his knees go weak as Keith pulled back then let his head push forward again. He set a quick pace, then, because Keith didn’t do anything in half measures, bobbing his head on Lance’s dick. Lance’s hands squeaked across the sleek walls of the spaceship. He had nothing to help ground him as the hot, wetness of Keith’s mouth repeatedly engulfed him.

        Lance didn’t realize he was talking until it was too late. Keith pulled back, hand still working over him. Lance glanced down to see Keith roll his jaw once before looking up at him. His lips looked a little ruddier than usual, like after one of their rougher make out sessions, but this time it wasn’t from hard kisses and the occasional nips and bites.

         “I don’t know why I’m surprised you talk so much,” Keith said, a smirk playing over his reddened lips. “Of course you talk the whole time when your mouth isn’t preoccupied.” He pulled just the tip into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it.

         “Ha-Ah-I’m gonna be real with you Keith,” Lance said, having trouble coming up with words at all, “I have no idea what I’ve been saying.” Lance’s brain was currently scattered to the cosmic dusts for all the good it was to him. Keith pulled back with a snort.

         “What, is that supposed to be news to me?” Keith asked. Lance blinked and Keith clarified. “Lance when DO you keep track of what you’re saying.”

         “Goddamn it Keith! Mid-blowjob is NOT the time to be snarky!” Lance panted out. He reached out to shove him away on instinct, but realized that that was the last thing he wanted as soon as his hand reached Keith’s head.

        Keith tilted his head into the hand instead of pulling away. His heart skipped a beat as he wove fingers into the dark, shaggy hair. Keith looked at him expectantly, his tongue peeking out between his lips for a moment and he left them that little bit parted. Lance was fairly well certain he’d stopped breathing. His grip tightened in Keith’s hair and he watched the smirk tip up one corner of Keith’s mouth.

         “You got something better for me to be doing?” he asked, his tone a challenge. A full body shiver ran through Lance.

         “You better believe it,” he replied with far more confidence than he felt as he guided Keith’s head forward. Despite his solid grip on him, he moved him in slowly, making sure he wasn’t pulling against Keith at any point. Keith wasn’t resisting at all, of course, but Lance was still nervous. When Keith finally did pause, opening his mouth slightly and looking up to Lance. Hiding his nerves as best he could, he pushed his hips just a bit forward to push into the waiting mouth. Keith’s eyes fell closed in concentration as he moved his tongue over the underside of his erection. Lance let out a hard breath.

         “God, Keith. Your mouth feels amazing,” Lance could feel the rambling nonsense building up again already in his chest, but he didn’t even try to stop it. He pulled back and pushed forward again, setting a conservative pace, not daring to push to far while holding Keith’s head in place. “You can’t imagine how many times I thought about this while staring at the back of your head. We barely had any classes together, but I was so determined to get into the program and then I’d get to stare at the back of your mullet all day. I’d get to prove to you I was just as good as you are at _something_ and you suck me off just like this. Except I never imagined how good your mouth would feel around me, fuck, Keith,” he rambled.

        A hand pushed up Lance’s thigh and gripped. Keith pushed forward, syncing up with Lance’s shallow thrusts to take him deeper. Lance would deny the whimper than came out of him until his dying day (or next time he was spilling secrets because of something amazing Keith was doing to his dick, if this was any indication).

        The hand that had been around the base of his dick was slowly getting spit slicked from running into Keith’s lips over and over. Shifting forward, Keith trading out hands, letting slightly slick fingers trail back behind his balls and finding their way to Lance’s ass. Lance felt a shudder of anticipation run through him. The fingers just slide over his entrance. Keith didn’t even _do_ anything, but just thinking about the implication, combined with the warmth pulling over his dick, had him gasping.

         “AH, waitwaitwait, Keith-ha-Keith,” He pulled back sharply on Keith’s hair, harder than he’d have liked to. He didn’t have time to think with how suddenly he was pushed over the edge, though. Keith’s lips pulled off his dick with a wet sound that would have probably been enough to make Lance come if he wasn’t already there. The short notice, left Keith bearing the brunt of the mess that followed on his face.

        After a few panted breaths, Lance opened his eyes. He stared in shock, because that was _not_ what he had intended to do. “I’m sorry!” he gasped out, while trying to keep his legs from giving way under him as he came down from the fucking amazing orgasm he’s just experienced.

         “It’s okay,” Keith assured, hand going to his face to wipe the cum off his cheek as best he could, “I could have just swallowed it,” he suggested with a level of nonchalance that had Lance sputtering.

         “Wha-I mean-you don’t have to swall-,” Lance’s stammering was cut short by Keith, casual as anything, pulling his hand, the hand he’d _just used to clean his face_ , to his mouth and dragging his tongue over his cum covered fingers.

        Lance’s legs finally _did_ give out. He collapsed to the floor, throwing his hands over his face. “You can’t just DO stuff like that!” he insisted, because where the hell did Keith get off casually doing something like _that_?

         “Heh.”

        Lance felt his knees pushed apart and he let them fall open for Keith. Keith pressed forward. Lance felt lips press against his hands where his own would have otherwise been.

         “So, I’m gonna guess this means I did OK for my first try?” Keith asked, trying to nuzzle his way between the hands. Lance half-heartedly tried to keep his face covered. With a sigh, he finally parted his hands enough to let Keith’s mouth find his. Keith took the kiss as a go ahead, crawling forward to roll his hips forward and press against Lance. Lance’s embarrassment waned and he even felt surge of pride at how hard Keith was.

         “Wow, Keith. That just from having my dick in your mouth?” Lance teased, finally able to let his hands fall from his face. Keith snagged up Lance’s hips again, tugging him forward into his lap. Lance gasped, pressed fully up against Keith, who was still fully clothed, while he was missing his pants entirely by then.

         “Yeah,” Keith replied simply. His hands slipped back to Lance’s ass. For a moment Lance felt so absolutely ready for Keith to fuck him, right there and then. Held firmly up against Keith, every fiber of his being wanted to tell him to do it, right there on the floor. He didn’t eve care anymore if someone walked in on them. It would be worth it, even if they scared one of the other paladins for life.

        Keith’s mouth slid down to Lance’s neck and he rolled his hips up into Lance, moaning unabashedly into his skin. Lance opened his mouth to tell him about his resolve. To tell him to him in the filthiest way possible. The words caught in throat.

        Suddenly his heart rate picked up again, but it was a sudden stark contrast to the excitement of before. His determination vanished and nothing could escape his mouth. As it turned out, thinking it to saying it was a much bigger gap than Lance had anticipating. Trying to force the words out, everything suddenly seemed like too much. _This_ was too much.

 

 

        Keith was confused to be thrown back into his ass. He stared up at Lance, standing. For a moment, he looking as confused as Keith was. Then he was yanking up his pants. Keith had seen this before. Something was wrong.

         “I HAVE THAT EARLY MISSION WITH HUNK,” he nearly shouted. Keith couldn’t process the shift in mood quick enough to respond. “I should-! I should get to bed so I’m not tired for that!” He announced only minutely quieter. He barely got his pants buttoned up before he was speed walking out of the room.

        Keith was left there, confused, slightly sticky, and completely, ridiculously, hard.

 

        By the time Keith had gotten his situation sorted out (memories of Lance’s very lovely expletives while he’d sucked him off helped with that), Lance’s door was already sealed up for the night. Keith thudded his head against the outside.

        Had the blowjob been a bit much? He’d thought that would be perfect, given how much Lance had talked about it. And, well, no, it wasn’t until after the blowjob that he’d gotten skittish…

        Keith sighed. He just wanted to crawl into bed with Lance and fall asleep listening to his heartbeat. He didn’t want to sleep alone so soon after being in a healing pod. It would just feel better to hear Lance snoring lightly next to him, and to get half woken up in the middle of the night when Lance’s arm falls asleep under him and he tugs it out carefully only for it to end up back around him by the end of the night.

        He could unlock the door, of course. Lance had given him his security code shortly after they’d started officially dating. He didn’t. The locked door seemed like a signal. Lance wanted to be left alone and it felt wrong to force the situation.

        Keith trudged back to his own room. He flopped down onto his bed which felt a little too hard in a room that was a little too quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually really excited to write the next chapter because I haven't gotten the chance to write Hunk much! And I LOVE Hunk! Particularly Hunk and Lance being besties~
> 
> ** **Edit:** In case anyone doesn't remember/didn't read [the prequel](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7999129/chapters/18311689), the blowjob daydream is a reference to [chapter 2](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7999129/chapters/18357391). I realize that was from a while ago now, haha.


	7. Away Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance mopes, gets swallowed by a giant space plant repeatedly, and makes a new friend.  
> Hunk rolls his eyes a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delays between chapters! These keep on turning out longer than I intend for them to be! @___@
> 
> Also! Please forgive any timeline errors (and let me know if you spot um plz!!). I reorganized this chapter about 12 times so I might have missed something, hahaha.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it! I'm just excited to finally got to write Hunk at all! lol

       Adrenaline burst into Keith and he shot up right in bed, pulling in breath sharply.

       The jolting energy fled as quickly as it came. He groaned and fell back onto his mattress tossing an arm over his eyes. He hated sleeping alone after a stint in the healing pods. The second time he was thrown in one he’d snuck into Shiro’s room that night to ‘talk’ and, boy what a funny thing? He fell asleep right there on his bed. Shiro hadn’t said anything and Keith had woken up calm with the feeling of a warm back pressed against his own. He didn’t want to admit it was a problem, though, so he hadn’t gone back the next time, or any of the (many) times after that. That was the problem with being the team wild card, he ended up injured more often than not.

       In the times that followed, he’d found other excuses to fall asleep near someone. He would cross his arms and sit down resolutely next to Hunk, and Hunk wouldn’t say a word when he ended up leaned against his shoulder, sleeping. Hunk would even let him slip down onto his lap. Other times he’d sprawl out on the floor next to Pidge while she was working. She’d toss her legs over him and use it to keep her laptop at the right angle to work. He’d fall asleep to her quick tapping and the faint sounds that leaked out of her headphones. He once even woke up to Coran still telling a story about the Somnians, an arm around his shoulder, waving a hand expressively.

       Most recently, of course, it’d been Lance; laid over him, curled up against his chest, spooning. It honestly didn’t matter. He just liked having a reminder he was not locked up, unable to leap into action if need be. Just knowing there was someone there, calm, right next to him, was enough. And yeah, maybe he liked the warm cuddly feeling of it too, but he wasn’t about to admit that to anyone.

       Keith checked the time on the wall panel. Too early. He sighed. He then tapped the screen and scrolled to the docking and departure schedule for the day. Lance hadn’t been lying. He _did_ have to leave early with Hunk. Keith didn’t have time to do much other than brush his teeth and head down there.

       He blinked hard, willing the sting of a bad nights rest out of his eyes before standing up and grabbing his boots. He hadn’t been big on pajamas until he started sleeping with Lance. Apparently, jeans and a utility belt weren’t fun to cuddle with. He couldn’t deny that the soft, loose pants were comfortable, though a little long on him. He stuffed the excess into his boots so he wouldn’t wreck the bottoms. It was a halfassed job, but he was only half awake and who was he trying to impress? Hunk and Lance? They’d seen him worse.

 

***

 

       Lance jittered in the docking bay. Hunk would be taking them both in his lion, and he never liked leaving Blue anywhere if he could help it. He knew she could take care of herself, of course, but it was the principle of the matter. If they were taking a lion at all, why not Blue? He knew why for the mission, but that didn’t make his mood better.

       What did, though, was seeing the uncombed mop of hair on top of his sloppily dressed, cranky looking boyfriend’s head. His heart jumped embarrassingly in excitement, then in a vague panic. He hadn’t exactly left Keith in the best of positions last night...

       Lance’s stomach swung between butterflies and a sinking horror in the few moments it took Keith to walk over. He was excited he had showed up to see him off (like he always did), but would have loved to live in denial of his little social faux pas of the night before. Keith walked over to him quietly and give him a bleary eyed looking over.

        “Morning,” Keith rasped out, clearly his first words of the day. His throat always needed time to wake up after sleep. Lance had quickly fallen in love with the gravelly voice that greeted him in the mornings

        “You look horrible,” Lance replied automatically. He meant it in the most loving way. He meant he looked like a ragamuffin and he wanted to sit him down and brush out his hair and moisturize his face and pepper him with kisses.

       Keith let out a grumbly little hum of agreement and pulled his eyes together tightly for a moment before opening them again, fixed on Lance. He smiled a little and Lance felt the knot in his gut loosen minutely.

        “About last night,” Lance started, averting his eyes.

        “It’s okay. I was pushy,” Keith grumbled out. Lance flushed.

        “Nono, you were-,” Lance tried to protest, but cut off as the bottom of his helmet was grabbed by the shield, which was extended down just under his chin at the moment. He was yanked down the inch or two to meet Keith. He lost his words, startled. How was he so cute when he was so atrociously UNput together. It was unfair. “Perfect,” he finished after a delay.

       Keith snorted. “Yeah, okay.” He pushed his lips to the face shield.

       Lance sputtered “Heyhey! Wait!” he protested, the protective shield disappearing just as Keith was letting it go. “Give that another try!” he suggested with a grin.

        “Hmm,” Keith took a step back. “You can have another when you get back,” he said, and yawned. “ ’M gonna go back to sleep.” He pulled in on himself, crossing his arms, hunching over. His eyes weren’t doing a very good job staying open either. He looked like he must have slept badly. Lance realized belatedly that Keith had just gotten out of the healing pod the day before. He was always extra cuddly on those nights. A new wave of guilt rushed over Lance.

        “Well, when I get back I’m getting that kiss then. And I’m also snuggling the heck out of you,” Lance ‘threatened’. Keith let his eyes fall closed lightly and smiled.

        “That so?” he asked.

        “Abso-fucking-lutely,” Lance insisted.

        “Hmm, good, you’ll have to come back with all your limbs and your face intact for that, so that covers all my ‘be safe’s,” Keith mumbled. He wasn’t even bothering to try to clear his throat.

        “You were going to tell me to ‘be safe’? Keith. Babe. You are the KING of _not safe_. Hell, I might be the one going on a mission, but you are way more likely to be missing an eye or something by the time I get back!” he insisted.

        “Mmm,” Keith replied, looking already halfway to back asleep.

        “Who lost an eye?” Hunk asked, his voice a tiny bit concerned. “No one is losing any eyes on this mission!” He strolled up to join them, helmet under his arm.

        “No one’s losing an eye,” Lance insisted.

        “Darn right,” Hunk agreed. “Hey Keith.” He nodded to Keith, who nodded back. “Okay, let’s go, we’re already late,” he insisted.

        “Yeah, yeah,” Lance rolled his eyes. “Love you, babe. Be back soon,” he called as he was dragged along by Hunk.

       Keith just pulled an arm out and let it lazily wave after them. Lance wished he’d gotten an ‘I love you’ back. It wasn’t their standard farewell, though. They usually just smooched and told each other not to die. He shouldn’t over think his sleep deprived boyfriend not kissing him directly or returning every loving sentiment back at him.

 

***

 

       Lance was moping. He wasn’t very good at hiding his feelings. No, Hunk corrected the thought, he was _good_ at showing off the feelings he wanted everyone to see. Lance could be completely obtuse when he chose to. As overdramatic as Lance could be when he did, Hunk was always happy to know Lance felt comfortable enough around him to show how he was really feeling. That being said, Hunk was very, _very_ done with Lance loudly sighing every time they paused, or moved, or did anything really.

        “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” he asked as they set up base camp. He had been sullen the whole trip into the strange wilderness they were supposed to live in for the duration of the mission. It was something between a jungle and an enormous venus flytrap from what Hunk understood. They had to suspend their entire camp slightly above the ground because if they let anything sit still too long it would start to dissolve in the bile of the giant beast. At least that’s how Coran explained it when he was showing them the 47 different knots that every Altean child knew.

        “What _isn’t_ wrong?” Lance asked, as he picked his boots out of the gross stickiness that was starting to ooze up around them. There was a thin crust that formed on the top of the goop of the jungle floor. If a traveler tread delicately they could stay out of the stuff potentially. Lance was usually pretty light on his feet, but today he was decidedly not. Every step he took was leaden and depressed.

        “Okay, if you don’t wanna talk about it Lance, you can just keep tying off those suspension cords,” Hunk said, with minimal sympathy in his voice. In all actuality he had a lot of sympathy, but if he showed that Lance would take it as an okay to wallow instead of talk. He’d made that mistake many times before and had learned that letting Lance dig himself deeper into self-pity wasn’t the best way to help him.

        “Uhk, Hunk I just want to get out of this guck,” Lance griped, painstakingly picking one boot up and then the other. He kept sinking, which was silly since even Hunk was keeping himself on the crusty outer layer as they stood there, not to say he hadn’t broken through more steps than not on their way over.

        “Yeah, but I also don’t want to be digested while I sleep, so why don’t you try out one of those nine thousand knots that Coran was showing us,” Hunk suggested. Lance sighed but he started tying things off proficiently and trying to keep his feet a little cleaner. The problem was, once your feet had a bit of the gunk from under the surface on them, it tended to break the crusty top layer faster. Lance was clearly getting frustrated by the time they were finishing up. Hunk imagined half of that frustration was from the stubborn silence he refused to break. Lance wasn’t good at silence.

       Hunk tugged the last rope tight. It was getting dark, though it had nothing to do with it getting closer to evening. The planet didn’t turn, or so slowly that it wasn’t worth noting. The giant creature they were staying in plunged the ecosystem in its belly into a hazy, warm ‘night’ periodically by slowly pulling the two sides of its mouth up and together. It was how the creature kept its food healthy, at least as far as Hunk could understand. Coran was hard to decipher between useful knowledge and ‘fun facts’ when he got on his stories. They were good stories, of course, just not when you needed to use the information to survive.

        “Don’t get that stuff in the tent,” Hunk warned, hitting a button that forced the stretched material of the floor to go rigid. That was all Lance needed before he was leaping off the ground and into their suspended temporary home. Hunk started to shout, but Lance’s boots appeared, hanging outside the opening, waiting. Hunk obligingly pulled out a baggy for them and Lance dropped them in before his hand disappeared with the rest of him. Hunk sighed as audibly as possible, but he was smiling. Lance hadn’t broken the surface leaping into the shelter, and that was a good sign, he thought.

 

       Lance took his time getting around to talking. More accurately, he spent his time talking about everything else. The mission was a boring, but important one: they were waiting for an operative. The problem was they didn’t know when they would be there, who they were, or even what information they were getting. It was all very suspicious, which was why it was a two-man job. Someone to watch their back.

       By the time they had set up camp, exhausted all their conspiracy theories on the mission, and eaten, they were left with nothing to do but sleep. Even in the growing humidity that seemed to build up with ‘night’ Hunk was ready for sleep. Trekking through the wildlife had been exhausting, especially when every third step was into a sticky paste like substance that tried to pull his boots off. He started to settle into his sleeping bag.

       Lance stirred. Usually once he had chosen his spot, he was set for the night, but he didn’t seem able to commit.

        “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

        “Of course,” Lance grumbled back, clearly not fine.

        “Really…” Hunk tried again.

        “It’s just so damn humid,” Lance snipped. It clearly wasn’t the real problem, but Hunk accepted it all the same.

        “Yeah, I’m already gross and sweaty,” he agreed, trying for levity

        “Why couldn’t we just wait in the lion. This is awful!” Lance was just complaining to complain. Hunk knew he preferred humid weather to dry. He let him gripe all the same.

       Despite the complaints, both were proficient sleepers and able to get through the night. Maybe that was why they were chosen. They could sleep anywhere when it came down to it. The other paladins could get a little picky sometimes. Lance might act picky but Hunk new that secretly he could fall asleep on a set of stairs if no other option was available. They both were asleep in no time.

 

 

       The ‘morning’ was only 6 vargas after ‘night’. Hunk would have liked to sleep longer, but the braying and screeching that quickly enveloped the entire jungle as soon as their host’s teeth parted, killed any thoughts of sleeping in. They’d seen the creature open it’s mouth the day before. Outside a burst of humid hot air spewed forth into the dry dusty surroundings of the giant plant. Then out came swarms of flying creatures of all shapes and sizes, either leaving the plant for survival reasons or just reveling in the fresh air. Inside, the cool air of the outside swept down and spread through the jungle. A smell had built up so slowly that it wasn’t until a wind rustled through their valley that Hunk realized how bad it had gotten. He took in a thankful breath.

       Lance was in a softer sighing sort of mood. He was almost excited when he saw the giant glistening pool in the widening lights. Until he remembered the bile beneath their feet and realized as beautiful as the lake looked, it was more likely than not, not very swimmer friendly. Lance huffed and complained and Hunk wanted to shake him out of it. Partially because he needed perky hijinks Lance to get through this miserable assignment of unknown length, but mostly because he had thought some rest would break him out of it, and it didn’t.

 

***

 

       Lance had to admit he was being a bit of a grump. He didn’t want to be. He knew Hunk was doing his best to keep him happy and both of them undigested. Despite all this, he still found himself pouting and griping about everything and anything. It was an impulse to be petulantly miserable that he felt like he had no control over. Every time he would spit out a needless complaint he cringed internally. It was already out there, though, and he had no ability to take it back. So, he simply sulked harder because he realized not only was he feeling like shit, he was making Hunk miserable with him.

       It spiraled from there. He _knew_ it was spiraling, but, as usual, he didn’t know how to stop it. There wasn’t any easy place to jam the cogs and break the cycle. So, he just kept slowly digging deeper and deeper and dragging Hunk down with him.

       Luckily Hunk had no plans to be dragged down, and was quick to bulldoze through his bad attitude.

        “Coran said you can COOK food in certain types of pools around here. They’re the ones that only the rims have that yellowy spotted stuff!” Hunk was explaining excitedly as he dragged Lance along. Lance wanted to pout. Well, he didn’t _want_ to, but he _wanted_ to. It felt easier to pout. “You just stick the food on a stick, put it in the middle for a few ticks, not touching the yellow stuff of course, and BAM, cooked!” Hunk went on animatedly.

        “That’s disgusting,” he stated solidly in a last-ditch effort not to smile.

        “What? No!” Hunk said waving a hand insistently. “Coran said only the ones fully covered over will make you sick. If the fungus or whatever can’t grow out to the middle it’s fine,” he assured.

        “Yeah, well, we’ve seen the stuff Altaen’s will eat,” Lance noted.

        “If you’re too scared to try it, that’s fine,” Hunk said with a shrug, heading off in his search for proper cooking pools, with or without his friend. Lance knew it was just a tactic, but he also knew he wanted to break out of this mood he was in as much as Hunk.

        “Scared?” he asked with more indignation than he felt. The overreaction helped push past the drag on the back of his mind. “Please. I just don’t know if you know how to properly cook-,” Lance stopped. Hunk stopped. He turned around with a scandalized expression on his face and Lance felt a laugh burst out straight from his chest. “Sorry! No! You’re right! You can cook anything,” Lance corrected himself hastily.

        “Darn right!” Hunk agreed with a satisfied nod. Lance followed Hunk, smiling now. There was only so long you could pout around him. Which was probably why they were best friends, why they found each other. Or at least why he’d found Hunk and clung to him through thick and thin. Hunk was perfect to open up to, but didn’t let him sulk. He’d let him bare his soul then stuff that void with cookies and laughter until Lance felt like he’d burst there was too much good in and around him. He wondered if Hunk got anything out of this relationship, if Hunk could even get a fraction back of what he did for Lance. He wasn’t sure, but he liked to hope he did _something_ that made Hunk’s life at least a little better…

 

       The semi-digested food was good. In a clearing where the breeze could reach them and where there were roots enough to keep from breaking through the ground, the giant plant wasn’t too bad either. Not quite as horrible as he’d thought that first day of hiking through bile and guck. He was getting better at keeping his boots clean at least.

       The giant creature they were staying in was starting to close again. It’d been almost 18 vargas, and the day to night ratio was a little off for Lance’s preferred beauty sleep schedule. He’d make due.

 

***

 

       Hunk thought Lance was in a better mood by the evening. He hadn’t talked about whatever it was that was on his mind, but he seemed not to be hyper focusing on it anymore. That was a step in the right direction, at least. They were just settling in for the night when Lance finally let something slip.

        “Would you have had sex with Keith by now if you were dating him?” Lance blurted, breaking through the heavy silence that had fallen. Hunk had just laid down, ready to fall asleep. He sighed.

        “Wow, man,” Hunk said.

        “I’m serious!” The whole enclosure swayed as Lance sat up suddenly in the dimming light. The noises around them were changing as they were slowly swallowed. The whole jungle changed to something deeper and darker. Maybe that’s what pulled what was bothering him out. He was kind of a romantic like that. The atmosphere had to be right to tell secrets.

        “I don’t know. I can’t exactly imagine dating Keith,” Hunk offered. He tried, for a moment, to actually imagine it. Keith was good at cuddling, better than Lance with all his limbs and boney joints. That somehow Lance never elbowed Keith in the gut when they ended up cozily tangled up together on movie nights amazed him. They fit, he supposed. It’d be cute if it wasn’t so gross.

        “I had the _best_ opportunity. I mean, I’ve had, like, a million opportunities.” Lance sighed.

        “All right so… does he not want to?” Hunk asked, ready to give a lecture about giving Keith space. He was sometimes slow on social things and Lance could be pushy. He could imagine Lance getting increasingly frustrated at Keith not picking up his hints, right down to the angry confusion on Keith’s face when Lance storms off.

        “No! He’s like so down! I think he’s been down for it since day one!” Lance burst back.

        “I don’t get it,” Hunk said plainly. He wondered how Lance was so energetic _now_. Trudging and moping the whole mission, but he starts talking about Keith’s dick and suddenly he’s all bubbly energy. Of course.

        “I mean… I kinda just…. So he was giving me a blowjob the other day,” Lance started.

        “Wow.” Hunk stared at the darkness now surrounding them. The lights went off and so did Lances filter.

        “Hey! Calm down! Anyway-,”

        “I was VERY calm for having that horrible mental image shoved into my brain!”

        “Don’t be a baby. Anyway, so we’re in the changing room—,”

        “Oh my god! I—Well, I exist in that room! Why were you doing this in the changing room?” Hunk cut in.

        “Can we focus?” Lance said, sighing, as if Hunk were being the unreasonable one.

        “Only if you promise to keep your sex-antics to the personal quarters from now on,” Hunk shot back.

        “We’ll keep it to YOUR personal quarters if you don’t watch out buddy!” Lance snapped. Hunk knew it was an empty threat but that didn’t mean he could ignore it.

        “I’m locking my doors. I hope you’re happy. When I bake cookies, and bring them back to my room, you’ll just have to know it’s your fault no one can have any,” he informed.

        “The kitchen then,” Lance threatened.

        “Don’t you DARE!” Hunk was horrified at the very thought. He’d already caught them making out on the counters and that was bad enough.

        “I won’t have to if you’ll listen,” Lance insisted.

       Hunk fell into a pouting silence.

        “So _anyway_. I was getting a blowjob and it was really amazing. Hunk have you ever gotten a blowjob?” Lance paused to ask.

        “Wow,” This was quickly becoming his word of the evening. “No. No I haven’t.”

        “Well you should, it’s fantastic,” he insisted.

        “I’ll keep that in mind next time someone is giving out free blowjobs. Why yes! Right over here good sir!” He said putting on a ‘dignified’ accent.

        “Do you want a blowjob? I swear I’ll blow you right now if it’ll keep you quiet for a second,” Lance snipped.

        “Wow.”

        “Yeah. Wow.”

       There was a pause.

        “So GO ON then!” Hunk half shouted.

        “Oh! Right! So, it’s amazing and I’m ready to go after that. I’m so here for this. He’s getting closer and then suddenly--I just couldn’t. I absolutely wanted to but I am such a huge-normous asshole that I just shoved him away and sprinted out of the room. And I think he’s gonna hate me now”

        “Yeah, he clearly hates you, dragging his tired butt out of bed at ridiculous hours to send you off,” Hunk said dryly.

        “He was following tradition! That doesn’t mean he isn’t upset. He probably thinks I’m such an ass! I just took and didn’t give anything back! He probably thinks I’m just in it for GETTING it, not GIVING. I wanna give back! I really did! And now he’s gonna hate me, because I just ran away,” Lance’s voice fell into a sulking thing.

        “Yeah. Because you running away is _reeeeally_ new and surprising to Keith,” Hunk said just as dryly as his last statement. Lance made an insulted noise, but didn’t have any arguments to back up his indignation.

        “I didn’t leave him with a boner last time,” Lance insisted in a mumble after a few long moments.

        “Are you sure?” Hunk asked, mostly joking.

        “……. No… I mean, well. Okay maybe I did,” he finally had to admit. Hunk snorted despite himself. “Oh no! That’s even worse! He’s going to get so tired of me doing the same thing to him! Ahhhrrrggg,” Lance swayed their temporary home violently again as he threw himself back over.

        “Calm down Lance! Before you get us eaten!” Hunk warned sharply. “Look. I’m pretty sure Keith knew what he was getting into with you. It’s fine.”

        “No he didn’t! The Lance he thought he was getting into it with knew how to put out. I thought I knew how to put out,” he fell into a mutter.

        “Wow.”

        “YEAH. WOW.” He half shouted back, his voice rising to a panic.

        “Okay. Will you just calm down. I don’t think Keith cares. Anyway, if he’s willing to look at you naked, I’m sure he’s pretty okay with waiting on the whole sex thing,” Hunk said.

        “Hey! I will have you know I’m a sight to behold when naked!” he boasted.

        “You know I’ve _seen_ you naked, right?” Hunk reminded.

        “Not recently,” Lance said, still sounding smug.

        “Why, has it changed a lot?” He teased.

        “Yeah! It _has_ in fact,” he shot back.

        “Pfft.”

        “No really! I’m totally manly and sexy. You don’t even know. I have abs now,” Lance insisted.

        “Yeah sure you do,” Hunk teased, though with all the time Lance spent with Keith in the training room, he didn’t doubt it.

        “No for real! I’m not like Shiro shredded or anything but I look good!” There was shuffling “I’ll show you! Turn on the lights I’m stripping.”

        “That is the last thing that would convince me to turn on the lights” Hunk said, laughing. Really, it was because turning on the lights would bring them much unwanted attention during the night phase. Other than the soft bioluminescent glowing of a few plants, there was nothing but darkness around them. Who knew what sort of attention they’d get for being the only light in the whole, now completely closed off, plant. He had nothing against seeing Lance naked, to be honest. He always had thought Lance was a pretty decent looking guy, not that he would ever tell him that.

        “Fine… but when this thing opens back up I’m showing you my abs.” He sounded determined.

        “I wait with bated breath, bro,” Hunk replied.

        “Damn right you do” Lance said flopping back down.

       A silence hung around them

        “Uhg! It’s hot and sweaty as your balls after fitness day,” Lance said. Hunk sighed.

        “Why did it have to be MY balls. Why couldn’t you have used your own balls, or even better, some generic metaphorical pair of balls?” he asked.

        “Because I wanted you to be able to relate” He said in a chipper tone. Hunk sighed again.

        “Yeah, well. Yeah it’s hot and wet as my balls after fitness day,” Hunk monotonously agreed.

 

***

 

       Lance felt a little better after their late-night talk. He hadn’t solved anything, of course, but that didn’t matter. He’d talked about it; Hunk had told him he was being silly. He denied it at the time but let it seep into his consciousness all the same. He carried it with him through the day. It helped him mope at least a little less.

 

       Only the barest slivers of light remained, shooting across the jungle in stripes when Lance’s helmet dinged with a message. Real time communication wasn’t acceptable this deep into Galra territory, but Pidge could encode a message and send it most places. Soon it’d be more once she got the fifth communication center put up in the Precipere space. Hunk was cleaning up before ‘night’ settled in, so Lance flopped over and started playing the message on the helmets loud speaker. He didn’t bother putting the helmet on, just laid down next to it lazily stretched out in the hazy heat to listen.

        “Keith reporting and requesting mission status update.” Keith’s voice was entirely business, as it tended to be on these messages. Yes, he’d sent the message to Lance directly but he still apparently felt an urge to make the messages sound official, like he was getting a grade on them. It was weird how much of a stickler for formalities he was when the rest of the time he was so reckless. Lance would ponder that another time, because he was too busying smiling to himself. Even the ‘down to business’ tone made him melt a little. He already missed Keith, how pathetic was that? He smiled even if it was.

        “This message is the first being sent through Pidge’s newest Comm Post at Gallsis, a small outer planet on the central edge of Precipere Territory,” Lance was amazed at how quickly she’d worked. The Precipere were clearly efficient people though, so he shouldn’t be surprised. Pidge was probably in love with their decisiveness and practicality. “Shiro reports that your mission remains unchanged: Keep the beacon on and wait to be contacted. They were given up to 7 Altean Standard days to make contact. After that you must assume the mission was compromised,” Keith droned on and Lance closed his eyes and listened even if he was just repeating things about the mission Lance already knew.

        “Message from Keith?” Hunk asked, walking by to take down their drying laundry before the mouth shut tight. It was already getting damp and it was starting to smell like that weird mixture of puke and rain. Lance was mostly upset because he loved the smell of rain and it was a real shame to have it mixed up with the rest of these gross smells. Lance hummed in agreement as Keith went on. He updated them on the castle and the status of Galra affairs. Nothing very eventful was going on. Hunk let him lay there, legs hanging out of their raised home as he did the finishing chores of the day.

        “On a personal note,” Keith eventually said, his voice was as even as ever but Lance’s heart skipped a beat. He might feel abashed at how conditioned he was if he weren’t too busy scrambling. His hand shot up to pull on the helmet and switch the speaker to play just his own ears. Keith paused just enough that Lance had pushed back out of the opening into a slightly more private setting by the time he spoke again.

        “I miss you,” Lance’s heart thudded against his chest in a dull ache at the simple words. Fuck. Hunk was right. He _was_ a romantic. He wanted to reply but he could only listen. Sometimes it was very hard just to listen to things after Keith said “on a personal note’, though.

        “I wish I’d remembered this mission could run up to a week. I would have insisted on sleeping with you before you went.” There was a pause of thought then a grumpy mumble, “And you took Hunk with you who is the only half decent replacement.” Lance chuckled and settle back to listen now that he wasn’t projecting Keith’s personal message to him out into the jungle. It’d been a long day and his eyes were slowly sliding shut.

        “I keep thinking about sucking you off.” Lance choked on nothing. “I hope that wasn’t too much and you liked it. I did. I’d like to do it again. I’ve been thinking about it a lot.” He wasn’t sure how Keith could be so blunt sometimes. No, what was more astounding is that he’d ever seemed like and enigma. Keith was an open book if you bothered to actually ask him what he was thinking. He even gave out the details unsolicited sometimes, like he was right then. Not that Lance was complaining. Not when he was describing all the things he’d been thinking about while he was waiting for him to come home.

       He could have forgotten where he was entirely, eyes closed, ignoring the growing heat, just listening to Keith… Until he felt the sway of Hunk climbing in to join him. Lance flushed furiously and launched himself up, though he didn’t really have a plan of action after that.

        “Uh…” Hunk stared at the flustered and frozen young man on the other side of the tent. “Do you need a moment alone with your helmet or something?” he asked.

        “Maybe,” Lance replied, fingers jumping up to stop the message. It was nearly over, thankfully, since he accidentally flipped the audio back to the outward speakers instead of off.

        “And while that’s delicious and all….” Keith’s sultry voice was finishing. Every muscle in Lance’s body froze in horror, “most of all I miss… Hunk’s cooking,” Keith finished, teasingly. Lance nearly fell over in relief, laughing right over Keith’s smug chuckle over the recording. “Be safe. Tell Hunk to bring you back in one piece. Love you,” he finished casually.

        “Aaaaall right you weirdos,” Hunk said, watching Lance nearly panting in relief, hand clutched to his chest, laughing.

        “Oh… Hunk,” Lance said through his laughter. “I miss him so much. I’m such a looser,” he said with a happy level of self-deprecation.

        “Well, sounds like he’s pretty happy with you. Does this mean you’re done worrying about if he hates you?” Hunk asked.

        “Yeah,” Lance replied easily.

        “So you’re done moping?” he asked.

        “No. Now I’m gonna mope because I miss him,” Lance replied happily. Hunk threw out a heavy, dramatic sigh, but there was no real annoyance in it. Lance smiled back at him as the giant mouth above them sealed again. The moist air soon broke, rain pelting their little tent and Lance hoped it was just water and they wouldn’t find their shelter soon dissolving over them instead of under them.

 

       The next morning Lance felt hot, sticky, but not spiraling. He didn’t feel the listlessness that pulled him deeper into a cycle of insecurity and obnoxiousness. He did, however, feel like an absolute tool. Because he missed Keith. He missed Keith in the cheesy, schmaltzy romantic ‘I just want to feel your arms around me’ sort of way. He felt stupid for it, but that he could deal with. Cheesy and romantic were a breeze when compared to nagging anxiety.

       Hunk still rolled his eyes at him a lot that day. When he sighed dramatically and said “Look at that plant. It’s red… Like Keith,” Hunk just replied, “It sure is buddy,” and pushed him along on their way.

       It was the fourth ‘day’ that Lance was starting to miss the smell of Keith’s hair and he knew this all was going too far. He told himself it was because they’d ended on a sour note, and hadn’t gotten to cuddle it out before he had gone. He was sure it was just because Keith was like some sort of beautiful gay fever dream, too perfect and weird at the same time.

       When he relayed so much to Hunk, his friend just replied, “Yeah, like that time I dreamed I was making out with Jackie Chan when I had that fever of 104.” Lance was suddenly thrown back to their first semester together at the Garrison. His eyes stared in wide wonder that he could ever forget such a thing.

        “You were CERTAIN that he was the best kisser in the world and that his favorite drink was something called ‘Pine-sparagus juice’ because it helps with kung fu,” Lance recounted with a joy bubbling up in him.

        “Did I?” Hunk laughed. “Wow. Now I want to try mixing pine apple and asparagus in a smoothie. Remind me to do that when we get back to earth.”

        “Hah, you know who probably would love that?” Lance asked.

        “Keith.”

        “Kei—hey!” Lance pouted suddenly. Hunk raised an eyebrow and Lance threw up his arms. “It’s not my fault! I’m in love, Hunk!” he protested.

        “I know,” he replied simply, only playfully exasperated. Lance thought that this was real love too, how Hunk dealt with him. He didn’t even roll his eyes. Hunk was such a beautiful person. What did he ever do to deserve him? He felt like it was at least the hundredth time he’d asked that since he’d met him. In all honesty, it was probably the hundredth time he’d asked himself that since the start of this mission.

 

       By the fifth day, everything reminded him of Keith. Maybe if they had been stuck in a less miserable place, or there were local inhabitants he’d have some better distractions. As it was, there was just him being a hopeless romantic and Hunk doing all the actual work. In his own defense, he didn’t know how to finagle the homing beacon like Hunk did and that was about all the work to be done beyond moving their camp periodically.

       He was hanging back around camp at what he could closest call mid-day. The creature’s mouth was open fully. He was trying to decide if he could get away with listening to the recording again before Hunk came back, when he heard an echoing shout. He sprung up, along with half the flight capable and spring loaded animals in the region. He bolted the opposite way of the fleeing wildlife, though. He raced around the wall of trees that separated Hunk from his view.

       Lance’s heart was pounding against his chest and he felt like an idiot. They were sent as a pair so they could watch the other’s back, because this could be a trap. How could he let Hunk so far out of his sight? Why couldn’t he have been bothered to trudge the few extra yards to do his job? His mind raced in a million directions in the ticks it took to reach him.

       Lance didn’t care that he was nearly ankle deep in the digestive gunk by the time he made it around the trees to Hunk. He skittered to a stop with the site he found. Hunks was whirling around, being hissed and squawked at by a cat sized creature. Lance had seen the type of animal before in their time in the jungle. It was a sleek, many legged creature that could tuck all of those legs in to nearly disappear when it latched onto the side of a tree. It moved lithely through the jungle with delicate precision. They’d slunk around Lance and Keith suspiciously from time to time, particularly in the evenings when they looked more like shadows shifting in the slivers of light more than actual creatures.

       Lance had had no idea that underneath the slicked down dark coat was and underside of bright, fiery red. The agitated creature had itself so ruffled up that it was almost more red than black now. It hissed and barred something like teeth at Hunk, who was now trying to recover his tools from where the little creature considered his territory. Every time he reached close, more of the creature’s coat flipped to red.

        “CAT…. CENTIPEDE… THING. GUH! I’M JUST TRYING TO GET MY TOOLS! STOP!” Hunk pleaded. He reached slightly in and was instantly swiped at. He jerked away, arms pinwheeling before he fell back. He luckily landed on a solid root to keep his entire ass out of the acidic pool below. Lance was certain the thing couldn’t weigh more than 7 pounds, tops, but Hunk was completely at its mercy.

       Lance burst out laughing in relief as much the comical sight in front of him.

        “Lance! Help!” Hunk cried.

        “It’s tiny!” he insisted, walking over. He picked himself up and onto the roots that stabilized the grounds. He’d found after a couple days that it was the obvious way to walk through the jungle.

        “And vicious! It won’t let me take my tools back!” he retorted, shrinking away as the thing wailed out a war cry.

        “Oh please,” Lance said, crouching down on the nearest root and stabilizing himself.

        “Watch out…” Hunk said tensely. The creature’s red and black coat was made of soft, smooth looking flat layers, some mix between scales and hair in nature. They were flipping back and forth in a quivering motion, flashing between black and red. Lance moved in, heedless of the clearly warning. He reached in for the tools Hunk had lost to the tiny creature.

        “He stole my pocket knife first,” Hunk informed him, his tone still seeming wary. “Then he pulled the whole box of tools towards his burrow… thing.” Lance smiled over his shoulder at him, a smug smile on his face.

        “You just need to know how to deal with—OW!!” Lance cut off in a yowl as the creature leapt forward and bit right into his finger. He had almost retrieved the knife back but dropped it, pulling his hand back sharply. Hunk was starting to say ‘I told you so’ but didn’t get to finish either. He was interrupted by Lance’s sweet cooing.

        “Aww…”

        “What? ‘Aww’? What is CUTE about that,” Hunk asked, shocked.

        “It reminds me of Keith,” Lance said. It was tiny, vicious, red, loved knives; it was basically Keith.

        “It just _bit_ you,” Hunk reminded.

        “Yeah…” Lance said with a soft smile, “Look at its little face. It’s so determined. I’m going to call it—,”

        “Oh no, Lance. Don’t _name_ it,” Hunk tried to warn.

        “Keith Junior,” Lance finished, ignoring his plea.

        “Lance no.”

        “K. J. for short.” Lance turned his ridiculous feeling grin back to Hunk. “I’m gonna go get it some food.” Hunk groaned, but didn’t bother trying to stop him.

        “At least get it to give my tools back!” Hunk called after him.

        “I don’t promise he’ll give back the knife!” Lance replied over his shoulder, smiling to himself.

 

        “I’m going to keep you,” he whispered when he’d returned with an armful of different food options for the angry little beast.

        “NO YOUR NOT,” Hunk shouted from a dozen paces away. Lance ignored him and his unrealistically good hearing. The creature slunk forward cautiously eyeing Lance before he snagged the baggie of goop jerky and quickly retreated into his burrow. He didn’t go down quite as far this time though.

       Yeah. He was gonna keep it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully I will be getting the next chapter out quicker, but I just was left today with the task of babysitting four cats, a dog,  
> and a house (who are all adorable but needy, lol) and I'll be running around a lot in general, so we'll see! lol
> 
> If you have any questions or comments feel free to hmu here on on Tumblr @[AVagueIdea](http://www.avagueidea.tumblr.com)!


	8. Meeting the Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Voltron gets a new addition and Keith doesn't take well to sharing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay, I have had... a rough few weeks @___@ To add to it, I have not had any internet connection for about a week now because of a storm! So, I am posting this to you all via starbucks (as I am currently that weirdo with my shoes off, really burrowed in to an arm chair. 6 days was simply too long for my internet dependent ass!)
> 
> This was supposed to be one chapter, but it got split into two, because 'concise' is a word I'm increasingly unfamiliar with. I hope you guys don't mind (and still remember me after so long not posting!).
> 
> Next chapter is 95% written so should be up this weekend or early next week!

       Keith stood a few feet away as Coran inspected the creature that Lance had brought home with him.

       It had ruined Keith’s plans.

       Keith had tried to be suave, like he hadn’t been waiting all morning in the docking bay for Lance and Hunk to get back. He had pushed himself off the wall he’d been leaning ‘casually’ against. They hadn’t been allowed to track their progress to keep the castles’ and their location secret. He thought he’d get a bro hug from Hunk to start. He enjoyed Hunk’s bro hugs. They were the standard one hand clasped sort, but combined with a one-armed bear hug making them extra satisfying. Then he planned to swoop in for a kiss from Lance.

       Instead, something darted out of the ship and over his feet. Lance had rushed right past him without even a glance. Hunk followed shortly after, shouting. Though, when he bulldozed over Keith he at least had the decency to turned halfway around to apologize, before finishing the turn and continuing the chase.

       It had taken over a varga to catch the thing. Keith didn’t even know what they were looking for until Lance shouted he’d got it over the intercom. Keith rushed over to see _what_ he had gotten. By the time he got there he found Coran praising ‘such a wonderful specimen’. Lance was preening proudly like it was his pride and joy, instead of some _thing_ he’d picked up a day or two ago out of a giant stomach.

       As soon as he stepped into the room, it took notice of him. It narrowed its eyes untrustingly and he squinted right back. Its plated fur shuttered and then flickered for a moment red. Then Lance got its attention and it was back to the sleek black, pressed down against its long torso. Keith watched all its legs move in an offset rhythm that didn’t seem like it should work as well as it did as it scuttled back over to Lance, who offered it Goop Chips and cooed at it.

       Why had he brought it home? He hadn’t rescued it, or at least it didn’t seem injured. Given the chase they’d just been on, it was clearly very healthy. Keith wondered if Lance might just have wanted a pet. Had he had a dog or cat or something back home that he’d missed?

       Keith scoured his memory and realized a startling fact. He didn’t know if Lance had had any pets. He didn’t even know if he had any brothers or sisters. He felt like he remembered something about little cousins, but he was doubting that even now. He didn’t _really_ know anything about Lance’s life before the garrison. He barely knew about his life before space and Voltron and right then.

       Keith had always assumed Lance came from a big family with lots of cousins and huge gettogethers. The sort of family you see taking up a whole set of picnic tables at the park for a reunion. He didn’t have any basis for this other than it just felt right. He’d never asked.

       Pidge talked about her family, seeing as how they were also in space. She’d always chat away about how much of a nerd Matt was whenever she found a good biological sample. While her first Comm device had been syncing, she’d talked the head swaying aliens of the hot spring world into giving her a sample of one of their primordial ponds. She had no idea what it was, but if even Zarkon left the place as a nature preserve she was sure Matt and her dad would love it.

       Hunk brought up his grandma and uncle a lot. They liked to cook and had taught him everything he knew, including how to improvise. Hunk insisted they would _crush_ it on chopped. Keith had to agree if they had half of Hunk’s ingenuity. The entirety of Team Voltron was set on shaking their hands and personally thanking them if they ever got back to Earth. Keith could have survived on goop, sure, but he was so very glad he didn’t have to.

       Shiro, well, Keith already knew enough about Shiro. He was too busy being leader, being focused. That made sense.

       Lance though… Lance should be talking about his two dozen cousins and what they did for Holidays. He should be talking about his dog Spot, the best dog in the world, and how he taught him to bark along to a pop song when he was in the 5th grade. Lance, who talks about himself whenever he gets the chance. Lance who wants to protect the Earth more than any of them. Lance who wants to get Home more than any of them. He should talk about family. He should talk about what he was protecting.

       He didn’t.

       Keith watched Lance coo and stick a thumb between the creature’s eyes, right above its muzzle. It liked that, lulling back, letting Coran get close enough to inspect it. Keith wondered how Lance had found just the right ways to pet it. Then he noticed the bandages all along his hands and arms and that gave him a hint. Apparently trial and error.

       Maybe he had a cat. He pet the catipede like it was a cat, for the most part.

       Keith was so busy wondering why Lance never told him anything about his life that he missed everything Coran was saying. He came back in at Lance turning to him with a grin so huge he was startled right out of his brooding. He felt his eyebrows lift out of a scowl. To be fair, he hadn’t known he was scowling until he was startled out of it.

        “Aww!” He was half shouting, his and Coran’s enthusiasm amplifying each other. He thought Coran must have been why Allura and the rest even considered letting Lance keep-what had Lance been calling it? ‘Kayjay’?

        “It’s a _girl_!” He announced. Keith blinked.

        “Sure…” he replied slowly, unsure of how else to respond.

        “You’re not getting in to the spirit of things!” Lance insisted, “Hey!” He turned to him fully now, the creature glaring when Lance stopped petting it and paid attention to Keith instead. “What’s the female version of Keith?”

        “I… -I don’t know?” he was at a loss. What did this have to do with anything.

        “Keithetta? That doesn’t sound like a real name,” he said shaking his head.

        “What are you even talking about?” Keith asked, his scowl back and this time he knew it. He hated being left in the dark.

        “It doesn’t matter, we’ll stick with what we have,” Lance said waving it off and turning back to Kayjay. It-well she- scampered up over his shoulder when it was offered. She then crawled down and back up his back so she was clinging around his side and latched over his shoulder at the top. It looked ridiculous.

       He smiled and pet its head over his shoulder. Keith pinched the bridge of his nose, a gesture he pretended he didn’t know he picked up from Shiro. The thing was literally clinging to Lance. He could tell this was going to be trouble.

        “She’s healthy and adjusting well and we have all the nutrients she needs. Though, Lance, don’t just give her those little chips Hunk makes,” Coran was explaining, “They aren’t very good for her. Just a treat. Okay?”

        “Sounds good! Special formulated Kibbles and Goop for my little Fraxefaelis,” He said affectionately. The thing tucked her feet in, pulling Lance’s jacket with it until it was just a lump clinging to him.

        “A good, strong, healthy Fraxefaelis at that!” Coran agreed. That must be what the centipede cat thing was. “And make sure she gets her acid bath every now and again to keep her undercoat clean,” he tagged on.

        “Of course,” Lance agreed.

        “Acid bath?” Keith cut in loudly.

        “Well _yeah_ , Keith. She’s used to being in a giant stomach,” Lance said, as if this were like being told your cat might cough up fur balls.

        “Quite true! While most creatures stay out of the pools of stomach acid, or live in them entirely, the fraxefaelis is unique in that it can survive both environments. Some variants are prolific swimmers, in fact, though the tree dwelling variety Lance has brought back with him tend to simply periodically bathe themselves as part of their cleaning routine. It’s flat, long plates are flexible, but not enough to avoid debris getting caught under them. While hair like yours or mine might be otherwise groomable, fraxefaelis are not often able to clean close to the root, particularly with how fused many plates are here,” he said, inspecting the creature clung to Lance, “As a result, they will often times leap off the trees into the stomach acids of their host and flick their coat back and forth until they are well coated, then rest in the pools until clean.” Coran was grinning, and so was Lance.

        “Yeah. Acid baths,” Lance repeated. Keith sighed, but gave up. He wasn’t going to convince Lance this was a bad idea. What would they even do if he did? They weren’t going to fly all the way back to drop it off again.

        “Have fun with giving it acid baths,” he finally conceded with a shrug.

       Lance took that as Keith’s blessing on the new pet (it wasn’t) and ran off to give it a tour of the Castle. Kayjay looked like she was sleeping. Keith wasn’t sure why he was talking to the thing as he went. He looked happy though. That counted for something.

       Keith had been pathetically lonely while Lance was away. Honestly, pathetically. He’d slept in Lance’s bed. It was the first time he’d done that while Lance wasn’t there. He hadn’t mentioned that part yet. He hadn’t had time to mention anything that had happened while he was away yet. He hadn’t even gotten in a ‘welcome back’ kiss.

       He'd have to wait until after the ‘tour’.

 

       It wasn’t until after dinner that Lance had finished his ‘tour’ and Keith got to see him again. It was a late dinner, too. Hunk had promised a feast after a quick nap. That nap lasted about 8 hours. This left the whole ship in a strange food limbo. No one wanted to snack, because when Hunk promised a feast, it was a feast. Missing out on any of it because you were too full was a tragedy. No one wanted to wake him either because he’d just finished a 7 day mission in which their informant never showed, then piloted the 9 hour flight back. Usually portals could be used, but for a mission with such a high risk of being a trap, they decided a direct path to the Castle should be avoided.

       It was effectively midnight for the paladins by the time they were eating. No one complained. It was Hunk’s cooking after all. It was always worth it.

 

       Keith was sated and tired and ready to just go straight to bed by the time dinner was over. He’d missed Lance while doing dishes, but that was fine. His feet led him automatically to Lance’s room. He’d deal with everything else tomorrow. He was just going to enjoy cuddling up with something more substantial than Lance’s pillow.

       He opened the door and smiled, seeing Lance already in bed. Then he noticed the thing in his spot.

        “Okay, so where does it sleep?” Keith asked, a tick of irritation sneaking out into his voice. He was tired and had missed Lance. He just wanted to go to bed with his boyfriend.

        “Huh?” Lance lifted his head and the thing mimicked him, eyes darting to Keith. It glared. Keith glared back.

        “The thing,” he said, waving at Kayjay.

        “Kj?” Lance asked, looking confused. “Oh, she’ll be fine right here,” he assured with an oblivious smile. Keith should probably know better than to feel so much animosity towards an animal, but it stretched out its front two pairs of legs to make sure it really took up his entire spot and Keith grit his teeth.

        “Alright then,” Keith said and he didn’t know what else to do. He stood there for a long moment before he turned around to leave. It was a stupid reaction. He knew it was. Lance was laughing before he could make it to the door.

        “You’ll fit too, you dork,” Lance insisted, tugging the creature with him as he scooted towards the wall. He patted the mattress. Keith came back over and sat down reluctantly. The creature shuttered black and red just around its neck and front paws. Keith frowned at it.

        “Oh, stop it,” Lance said, bopping her lightly on the head. It seemed more affectionate than disciplinary. It worked all the same. The thing stopped and pulled into Lance, clinging directly to his shirt. Keith eventually laid down. He felt like he was being coaxed about as much as the animal was, though, and felt embarrassed.

       Lance fell right asleep, not even noticing when the creature shifted and clung and kicked. Keith did though. He didn’t trust the wild animal his boyfriend had brought home quite so eagerly. It kept glaring at him and when he tried to settle in, it pushed its paws out again, to keep him at a distance from both her and Lance.

       Keith did not sleep well. He couldn’t even lean in to get a goodnight kiss, the thing made a garbled hissing noise when he tried to lean in over her. It kept him at the edge of the bed. When Keith had tried to scoot in despite it, he was met with a double layer of sharp talons, the inner set razor sharp. He recalled vaguely something Coran had mentioned about the outer, dull layer for climbing trees and the inner claws kept sharp for protection. Great. Both threated to dig into Keith. He pulled back, irritated to lose to something so… small.

 

       Keith woke up to what felt like a million legs scuttling over him. He ‘oof’ed as the last pair kicked off his sternum. Lance launched over him a moment later.

        “What is it Kj?” he called as he scrambled after it.

       The thing was at the door yowling. It was like a purring, yodeling sound. Lance and it were gone in a moment.

       Keith groaned, sitting up slowly. He could tell today wasn’t going to be a very good day either.

 

       The next few days felt like the week Lance had spent avoiding him. The thought might have been a little over dramatic, but every moment he got with Lance he had to hunt down and capitalize on before Kayjay stole it. She was always causing some trouble that demanded his boyfriend’s immediate attention. First she’d gotten into the air ducts. Then she’d stolen all of Pidges screws. Had she swallowed some of them? Would she need surgery? She wouldn’t eat her food. Was she sick? Did she need her food to look alive to want to eat it?

       It was never ending. Five days felt like an eternity when he’d been sick of it after one. He went to sleep in his own bed on the forth night, after the thing yowled for two straight vargas. He didn’t even think it breathed between wailing cries. He hadn’t even bothered going to Lance’s room the next night. He was done with the claws digging into him and the weird noises that kept him on edge.

 

       The fact of the matter was, Keith wasn’t exactly an animal person. That wasn’t quite true. What he wasn’t was a _pet_ person.

       He had nothing _against_ animals. He had a parakeet once take a liking to him. Whenever he was at the old woman down the street’s house it would flutter about until he put his hand out and the little blue and white bird would just… sit there. There was a horse once that he got along with, even though he threw him at least a handful of times. Still, he’d say him and Sugar had formed a pretty decent relationship eventually. He had at least stopped throwing him.

       That being said, none of those were his pets. Pets didn’t sound like such a great deal to him. He never knew what they wanted and the rewards of having some fuzzy companion trailing him around didn’t seem worth the hassles involved with them. Maybe if he had a solid bonding moment with one they’d be tolerable. Unfortunately, Keith had the distinct feeling that Kayjay wasn’t one of those animals he could have a bonding moment with.

 

       Keith dropped his weight down on the couch next to Hunk. He looked over, surprised.

        “You okay, man?” he asked. Keith was scowling, arms crossed. Instead of answering he just leaned himself over and let his head fell onto Hunk’s thigh. Hunk paused, then laughed a little. “I guess not,” he accessed, putting a hand down over the side of Keith’s head. Keith kept his arms crossed and shoulders tight, despite the demand for affection. Keith didn’t tend to verbally communicate his needs all the time, but Hunk didn’t mind. Words were hard. He understood that.

       After a moment, he started running his fingers through Keith’s hair, pushing it behind his ear. It was what Lance liked when he was pouting. Keith didn’t seem to be much different. His shoulders relaxed a little at least.

        “I’m just so done with that thing,” Keith said.

        “What thing?” he asked.

        “Lance’s new pet!” Keith replied, exasperated. Hunk laughed again.

        “It’s been like 4 days,” he reminded.

        “5!” Keith had apparently been counting.

        “Okay, 5,” Hunk agreed. “Do you really dislike her that much. I mean, I know she’s a bit of a handful, but come on, man.” Keith was being a little unreasonable. Maybe Hunk was just enjoying the fact that K.J. seemed to prefer stealing Pidge’s shiny objects instead of his, though.

       Keith buried his face into the top of Hunk’s thigh and made a noise between and growl and a groan. Hunk let his dull nails dig in a little rougher into the back of Keith’s scalp, digging in as he moved all over the back of his head. He eventually relaxed a little, indicated by a little huff of a sigh. He turned his face out of Hunk’s thigh though.

        “To be honest with you, I half thought you and K.J. would just connect when Lance brought her home,” Hunk admitted. He glanced down to see Keith’s brow furrowing further.

        “People always think I’m going to have some magical connection with animals,” Keith snipped, an arm popping out of its cross with the other to give a dramatic hand gesture. “As if being bad at reading human…oids, I guess, will somehow make me good at reading animals.” His other hand pulled free, though it was pinned between him and the couch so there was only so big his gesture could get. “But it turns out I am just bad at reading _everything_!”

       Hunk snorted. He pushed Keith’s hair behind his ear again.

        “Just go talk to Lance,” he suggested. He felt like he’d said this to both of them about a hundred times since they started dating. At _least_ a hundred times. Keith pouted in response, probably because he had known it was coming, and he knew Hunk was right.

        “It’ll just be there, shaking its stupid fur at me,” Keith replied.

        “Okay, if you’re gonna let an 8-legged tree ferret beat you, that’s your decision,” Hunk said, pausing in his scratching to shrug. Keith pushed himself up instantly. Hunk pulled his hand quickly out of the way.

        “I’ll go talk to Lance!” he announced, not one to be beaten by a ferret, it seemed.

        “Good!” He replied at the same volume. “Hey,” he said, as Keith leapt up to fight for his boyfriend. “Don’t get to mad at it, okay?” Keith looked surprised. “Remember, it’s just trying to adjust to a new home. I mean, we know that can be a little rough, right?”

       Keith paused for a moment, seeming to consider that.

        “Thanks Hunk,” he said with a solid nod. He gave Hunk’s shoulder a hard ‘thank you’ pat before pushing off him, away from the couch.

       Hunk just shook his head as Keith disappeared.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Find out what happened while Lance was away!
> 
> As always, thank you all for reading!  
> I live for your comments, so feel free to drop me a note if you want to chat here or [on tumblr](http://avagueidea.tumblr.com/) (particularly if you need a Coran-esque explanation of fraxefaelis grooming habits, or their unique digestive qualities or something, lol).
> 
> ♥
> 
> ((Quick aside, anyone feeling a heith or klunk side story? Because I'm kinda feeling it if people would be interested in reading it))


	9. Since I Couldn't Find a Space 7/11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith finally gets to tell Lance what happened while he was away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank goodness for Holiday weekends! Took advantage of my extra day off to bring you guys another update! Whoo!!
> 
> It's a bit of a wild ride tonally, but I hope you guys enjoy it!! haha

        Keith was fed up with this creature. If he had to throw the thing out of bed, he was determined not to let it ruin the nice set up he had going with Lance. Plus, he still had to tell Lance his news from while he was away. He did keep Hunk’s parting message in mind. He wouldn’t be unnecessarily mean to it. He’d be firm though. The thing needed a firm hand with how much Lance was spoiling it.

        Keith caught Lance when he was heading back to his room that night, Kayjay in tow. When Lance let it in it ran around in circles exploring every nook and cranny, even though she’d been there every night for nearly a week. She even attempted to make a few new nooks of her own, burrowing into laundry and furniture alike. Keith tried to stop her at first, but Lance didn’t seem to mind, so eventually he gave up. It was Lance’s room after all. If he was okay with it being torn apart, who was Keith to argue? Well, other than the fact that he slept there more often than not nowadays. And maybe he’d gotten a little possessive after staying there on his own for a week.

        Lance just smiled at the creature and let her run amuck. Keith sighed and sat on the bed when Lance did. He scooted in closer and that seemed to get the thing’s attention, unfortunately. It glanced over suspiciously before foregoing further exploring to force its way between the two of them. It had already inspected the bed, but it made it a priority to make another sweep just to be in Keith’s way.

        Keith tried to ignore it.

        “So, while you were on your mission,” he started, and then tried starting again a handful of times, but Lance was paying more attention to Kayjay than listening. The thing was doing the frantic flinging itself around it did before bed. It would rush to one side of the bed only to do a hard U-turn to gallop right back to the other side, periodically getting distracted with leaping and attacking random folds in the blanket, which were only occasionally Lance’s hand. When it got bored of that, it would launch itself against Keith, kicking off him or jumping right over him. Keith hoped to win Lance’s attention, but there was just too much Kayjay going on. Eventually gave up and just went on whether Lance was listening or not.

         “While you were out Devenus stopped by,” Keith stated. The creature was finally settling down, worn out by ‘playing’, or at least what Lance insisted was playing. Keith was pretty sure she was legitimately trying to pull his arm off with the death grip and insistent kicking of all of her back legs. When it’d given up it had circled Keith once, before returning to Lance to try to get into his lap. Lance, though, was just starting his evening routine. This meant he was up and down and never settled long enough for the creature to claim him as a bed. After being tossed off Lance’s lap one too many times, she begrudgingly settled on Keith. It was clearly a less than ideal solution. She only put her head on Keith’s knee, and just barely.

        Keith glared at it. It glared back, but it didn’t move.

         “What’d he do?” Lance asked, popping his head out of the bathroom with a disdainful look and a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. Keith let out a little laugh. Lance always assumed the worst of Devenus, but he supposed that was fair enough given he had tried to shoot him that one time.

         “Helped me out a little, actually,” Keith said, trying to shift to reach the nightstand without jarring Kayjay. The thing still made a throaty grumbling noise and shoved its chin down on his knee, pulling up a paw and pushing its double layer of prickly talons into his pants. She didn’t dig in, but it was a warning. Keith frowned down at her. She didn’t even spare him a glance this time.

         “He _helped_ ,” Lance repeated, warily eyeing a little semi-sheer bag, with something bright orange showing through the fabric. He disappeared for a moment, spitting out his tooth paste before peaking back around. “Are you _sure_?” he asked.

         “I was talking to him about you-,” Keith started.

         “Why?” Lance cut in.

         “Because he asked?” Keith shrugged and moved on. He hesitantly tried rubbing Kayjay’s head to try to coax her into putting the talons away. It only made her flex them back and forth, always just shy of breaking skin. Keith sighed. He couldn’t win with this thing. “So, I asked him where to get lube,” Keith glanced up at the choking noise. Lance looked horrified. “What?”

         “You asked DEVENUS where to get lube?” Lance half shouted before getting himself in check, his eyes darting to the door, even though it closed automatically.

         “Uh… yeah. He seemed like he’d know where a space 7/11 was, and then we wouldn’t have to ask Coran or Allura about it,” he said. It seemed like the obvious choice to him.

         “I mean… I guess!” Lance pouted, pulling his arms across his chest and not seeming to like that it was the best option. His face looked soft, making the pout seem even more childish. He must have already done his face scrub stuff, since he didn’t have his goop mask on tonight. He used to wear it every night until Keith complained about not being able to kiss him. Or maybe it was because he kept waking up with Keith’s hair stuck to it. “But weren’t you worried he might misinterpret that?” Keith’s thoughts about how soft Lance’s face was were cut off. He hadn’t even considered being worried about it.

         “Well, I said it was for sex with _you_ ,” Keith offered, not sure how else to console Lance, who seemed so honestly perturbed.

         “Okay, but, I am still not pleased that Devenus knows the status of our sex life,” Lance said.

         “Really? I thought you’d want him to know…” Keith was surprised. He had been fairly certain Lance would have announced to the alien that Keith had given him a blowjob the night before if he’d been there.

         “Wha! Why?” Lance said. He’d been getting slowly redder the whole time and now looked honestly flustered. Whoops. Keith had misjudged this one entirely.

         “I don’t know,” Keith said, “I figured you’d want him to be jealous of how into you I am.” Lance’s expression did a 180.

         “Oh, how into me you are? How into me _are_ you?” he asked. Keith rolled his eyes.

         “Enough to ask Devenus about lube, but not enough to ask Coran,” he replied dryly. Lance had to pause and think about that one.

         “Fair enough,” he nodded, then laughed. He looked less horrified and more resigned that Keith had talked to a known admirer about his sex life. “What did you find out then?”

        Keith held the bag up, reminding him of it, “He gave me a ‘space-sex care package’,” Keith quoted. He tossed it over as Lance came cautiously towards the bed, “After I explained how our sex organs worked—,” Okay. Admittedly, Keith should have expected the squawk this time.

         “You did what?!” Lance asked. “Keith! You explained gay sex to an alien who tried to shoot me so he could date you!” Lance looked exasperated.

         “It’s fine! He didn’t think anything of it,” Keith insisted.

         “Oh yeah, this coming from the guy who made out with me for two months without realizing I wanted to date him,” Lance scoffed. Keith opened his mouth to defend himself, but, honestly, he had nothing. Lance sighed over dramatically, “Man, I almost feel bad for the guy, being led on like this,” he said, “I mean, I might if he hadn’t tried to kill me.” Keith knew he was just being teased at this point. He knew it, but he still could feel his face heating up.

         “I was very clear that it was about you and me, Lance!” Keith tried, despite knowing even his most sincere insistence wouldn’t stop Lance from teasing. It probably made it worse.

         “Uh-huuuh,” Lance nodded.

         “Really!” Keith said, frowning, “Lance, I’m serious.”

         “Okay, okay, calm down,” Lance said, sitting himself down on the opposite side of Keith than Kayjay. To Keith’s surprise, she stayed leaned against his knee.

        Lance was on the complex knot Devenus had done up the bag with. Keith had noticed the guy liked strange knots. He wondered if it was a cultural thing or just a weird trait of his own. He found himself wondering that a lot while travelling the universe and meeting aliens. “So, what did he give you after you told him all about your dick?” Lance asked, his tongue sticking out a little as he kept pulling at the knot. Keith reached over and took it.

         “I didn’t tell him all about _my_ dick,” Keith insisted, “Just… dicks in general,” he admitted. He ignored Lance’s unimpressed look and tugged at the cord, undoing the knot. At the pout, Keith said “I’ll teach you how later. Anyway! So, he gave us,” Keith whipped out the bright orange object, “Space condoms, because apparently penetrating appendages are common enough on aliens that they’re easy to find—and free most places. Keeping intergalactic sex safe, I guess,” Keith commented with a shrug, “They come in a lot of sizes, but he said this should probably be the right size.” Lance was covering his face. He parted his hands enough to look at Keith with a pained expression.

“Should I ask how he know what the right size would be?”

         “Oh, I told hi-… ah, anyway,” Keith said, clearing his throat, “He also gave us this,” he pulled out a black cube with a screw off top, “He said it was new,” he preempted any of Lance’s complaining there. “And then he added some, well he said they would be helpful, but I don’t know that I really trust that our biologies are similar enough,” he said, digging through the remaining items in the bag.

        Lance turned the black cube around in his hand before twisting it open. He seemed less skeptical when there was a protective seal still intact. “Okay… this all seems suspiciously considerate,” Lance said.

         “Well, it’s nice to have either way, right?” he asked. Keith was suddenly hit with the recurring fear that he was pushing Lance, “Not, like, right now necessarily or anything, just… you know whenever,” he said. His hand had found its way to Kayjay’s head, finding that spot just between his eyes that she seemed to like being rubbed. Keith focused his energy on the petting rather than how awkward that had just come out.  It _must_ have seemed like he was asking for sex right then. Shit.

         “All right!” Lance announced suddenly, putting the cube back down after he’s screwed it back together, “Time for KJ to go explore the ship!” he informed. He hopped up and snagged the animal in a swooping motion. Keith tensed as the talons came out, considering clinging to her comfortable place on Keith. Upon realizing it was Lance, though, the creature calmed and let herself be gathered up in his arms, unaware that Lance was just taking her to the door. He unceremoniously dumped the creature back into her feet then.

         “Go explore, buddy.” There was an angry cry and a brief argument. Keith wasn’t sure if the creature understood language better than he’d been led on, or if this was just how Lance talked to animals. He was fairly certain it was the latter, but it was hard to tell when aliens were involved.

         “No. Nooo, none of that. Go on. Yes, I see you, and I’ll feed you later. Because later is a reasonable time. Oh no, don’t think you can play the cute card. Take that face off. Okay one more pet…” Keith just waited, a bit confused, until Lance came back.

         “Is it okay just to let it run free in the castle?” Keith asked.

         “We let Pidge have free range and I’m pretty sure she could do much more damage,” Lance replied before throwing himself back on the bed.

        Keith wanted to defend Pidge’s honor, but not as much as he wanted to follow after his boyfriend. The boyfriend he hadn’t gotten to sleep next to for 5 days-no, 12 days! He just turned himself around and let himself fall right onto his chest, shifting up to nuzzle into his neck. He smashed his face in and inhale him, relishing the chance to exist together, just the two of them. He was probably right, anyway. Pidge had accidentally set the whole Castle on vibrate a few weeks back. Every time they got a transmission the floors would rattle and shake until someone answered it. Everyone’s reaction time went up after that ordeal, so not a total loss. She also briefly turned them into a bomb too. Kayjay certainly couldn’t do worse than that. He also wasn’t about to argue with this quality Lance Time going on. He could practically taste him with a second deep inhale.

        Lance grabbed him and hauled him further on top of himself. He was all hands in an instant, and kisses. It felt like the first time they’d kissed in _ages_. Keith was a little relieved to know that Lance seemed as starved for this as he was. He felt less ridiculous at least. Lance’s fingers grabbed haphazardly at the sides of his face. The kiss was a mess, but it was so good, perfect even, because Keith felt like a mess. It fit just right with the desperation of his lips against Lance's.

        It didn’t take long before Lance was pulling clothing off Keith with reckless abandon. Keith was letting Lance take the lead. He seemed eager to. Keith was just enjoying having Lance in his arms again. It was cheesy but it was true. Well, he was enjoying a lot of things going on, to clarify. Particularly his boyfriend’s legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him in against him, rolling his hips up as Keith rolled his down.

        Keith pushed them apart enough to tug off Lance’s pants. Lance threw them aside with his foot before wrapping a leg back around him. Things all seemed to be tumbling forward quickly, but damn if Keith cared. After almost two weeks without Lance in his arms he was beyond ready for this.

        Keith broke their kiss for a moment, to lean back towards the night stand and grab the black cube again. His other hand slid down to Lance’s hip, gripping it to pull him up against him again before bringing his attention to the cube.

        Lance had stilled a little under him. Keith glanced down. Before he could access anything, even see Lance’s expression, his face was grabbed on both sides and he was pulled into a hard kiss. It felt determined. It felt like their kisses had been back before they’d even started dating, when they were just ambushing each other with their mutual pent up sexual frustration. Keith grinned into the kiss, and let his hand blindly work at the container.

        Lance started moving against him again. He dug his fingers into Keith’s shoulders and nipped at his lip. Keith didn’t know how, but he managed to get the container open and some of the slick substance inside on his hand. He got a bit on the bed too, but they were probably going to make a mess anyway so it didn’t seem worthwhile to worry. He pulled Lance up a little more before sliding his hand back. He pushed a finger over his entrance. His other hand found its way to Lance’s erection, wrapping around it. He pressed his finger lightly into the ring of muscles.

        If Keith ever had any doubt that he was gay, he didn’t but hypothetically, he could look back on this moment and know for sure, because there was absolutely no heterosexual explanation for the feelings he had about being inside of Lance. And fuck, it was only a finger. He hadn’t even _done_ anything, not really, but just feeling Lance around him, hearing that hitch of breath when he carefully pushed in further. He bit his lip just to keep calm, keep being gentle and careful, because he felt a little unhinged. He hadn’t expected to get this far. Not right now. Maybe on some level he hadn’t expected it ever to _actually_ happen.

        As he kept moving, Lance relaxed. He’d let his head fall down to kiss at his cheek, his neck, his shoulder, his whatever. It didn’t matter. He was just mouthing at him really. Leaving sloppy, soothing kisses where ever his mouth led him. Lance’s fingers were clinging to his shoulders tightly, but otherwise he didn’t seem too tense. Keith pulled out his finger for just a moment to add a second one in.

        Lance’s fingers tightened, he pushed back into the fingers for a moment. Keith grinned into his neck, letting his other hand pull over Lance’s dick. He pushed his fingers the rest of the way in, kissing up his neck. It all was moving so smoothly forward and it felt so—Keith didn’t even know. So everything!

        Then everything stopped. Or well, Lance stopped, which Keith realized after a hand went to his chest and sat there stock still. It didn’t even push him away, just, sat there.

         “Wait,” Lance mumbled.

         “Wait?” Keith waited.

        Lance said nothing. There was a long silence. Finally, a quiet half whisper, or maybe more of a whine.

         “Sorry.”

        Keith dropped his head down next to Lances, brow pinched together and let a frustrated noise rumble in his chest. He carefully pulled his fingers out of Lance before he picked himself up enough to flopped to the side. Well, that had been frustratingly close. He wondered if he should offer to switch up the roles again. Lance had seemed adamant that this was how their first time was going to go, but maybe he’d just been feeling stubborn.

        Keith casually rolled his head towards Lance to offer up the idea and found him staring straight up at the ceiling, his expression pinched, his entire body was tense. It startled Keith.

         “Hey,” Keith offered up in the softest tone he knew how to make. It still felt harsh in the silence Lance had built around himself in those few moments.

         “I’m sorry,” Lance blurted, louder this time. He rubbed hands over his face and laughed through them. It sounded painfully forced.

         “It’s fine!” Keith shot up to get a better view of Lance. Crap. He's been too pushy. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Fuck.

         “I DO,” he insisted through his hands and let out a frustrated groan, “I _do_ want to. I just…” he pushed his hands up into his hair and his fingers curled into the short locks and tugged in frustration. “I don’t know,” he said in a defeated tone. He let his hair go and his hands flopped to the side. Keith could feel the frustration radiating off him. His brow was tugged together, his jaw tight, and he just seemed mad at himself. Keith felt a pang of guilt.

         “It’s not a big deal,” he tried, his chest feeling tight, staring down at Lance. He was still staring adamantly at the ceiling.

         “It is a big deal! I really do want to!” he shot back, then grumbled and rolled, stuffing his face into the pillow to muffle his frustrated noises. Keith wasn’t sure what to do. He hesitated before placing a hand on Lance’s back. The shoulders eased under his hand and Keith let out a breath of relief. He rubbed his hand mindlessly over his back. Lance muttered into the pillow.

         “What?” Keith leaned in to try to catch what he’d said.

         “I like that you want to,” he repeated, turning his head so it was only half smooshed onto the pillow. “I like that super concentrated look you get...” he trailed off. Keith had to pull away, very aware of his expression.

         “What?” he sputtered.

        Lance smiled up at him, just a little, without pulling his head more out of the pillow. “It’s really…” Lance turned his face back into the pillow, but Keith thought he heard ‘sexy’ sneak its way out from the folds of fabric.

         “Oh,” he said back, because he didn’t know how else to respond.

         “ ‘Oh’?” Lance echoed back, pushing himself up to look at Keith incredulously.

         “I don’t know! How would you respond to me calling YOUR face sexy?” Keith shot back, but he was already cringing at the smug smile that pulled over Lance’s face.

         “I’d tell you I already knew that,” he assured. Keith rolled his eyes, trying not to make it clear how much the cockiness made him want to smile. This felt right, more right than whatever Lance had been a minute ago.

         “Yeah, yeah,” he said, leaning back on his elbows. When he looked back at Lance, he seemed to be waffling, unsure about his next words.

         “I can use my mouth if you want,” Lance offered, averting his eyes from Keith. Unbidden, Keith perked back up a bit at the offer, well parts of him did. Keith shook his head though.

         “You don’t have to,” Keith assured. It’s not that it didn’t sound good. Lance was talented with his mouth, that was for damn sure. Keith felt like he was only offering because he felt guilty. Keith didn’t want a guilt blowjob.

         “No I-uh-I want to,” Lance stammered. He looked up and met Keith’s skeptical expression and he puffed up a little, “I DO, I like to, uh, well I enjoy,” he cleared his throat, “When you come, ya know. I mean, I like _making_ you…” he trailed off.

         “Oh, well, sure then! I mean yes-yeah-I’d like that,” Keith managed reply as he tried to keep his heartbeat reasonable. Lance was biting his lip to keep his grin in check and that was the cutest damn thing. He pushed Keith back and scooted up into a better position, shifting to get between his legs.

        Lance smiled. He clearly liked Keith being the flustered one. Lance had an easier time playing it cool when everyone else was in pieces. Not that Keith was in pieces, not yet, just stammering a little.

        Lance was looking at Keith like he was planning his attack for a moment. Specifically, staring at his dick. Keith felt like he should be embarrassed, but this had become normal. Lance seeing him naked, at least. He didn’t feel the blush creeping up his neck that he used to. Instead he just felt relieved that Lance seemed like his usually self. His smarmy smirk was back. He loved that smirk. It used to annoy him. It usually was followed by Lance saying something horribly embarrassing to some pretty alien. Now it was followed by him saying something horribly embarrassing to Keith. Or kissing him. Or wrapping his lips around his dick in this case.

        Keith caught the groan in his throat, not breathing for just a moment until he knew it was in check. Of course Lance was good with his mouth. He’d known it. He had this thing he did with his tongue. Keith couldn’t exactly explain what about it was so good, but damn it, it was.

        Keith thought up a million teasing remarks in the vein of ‘finally doing something useful with your mouth’. It seemed like exactly the sort of comment he should make right about then. He opened his mouth to say it, but nothing came out. Or more, he realized that if he tried to talk every other noise would come out too. So, he didn’t. He was so quiet that Lance paused after a minute, pulling back to just his hands to look up at Keith, the hint of concern in his expression.

         “Keith?” he said, after clearing his throat.

        Keith’s head turned down sharply and his eyes fluttered open. He was glad for a pause. He needed a pause. He needed to breath.

         “Yeah,” he breathed out, stupidly.

         “Oh,” Lance flushed. “You were just so quiet, so…” Apparently, Keith’s expression was explanation enough, because he didn’t bother finishing and instead went back to it. Keith bit his lip and thought this was fine. This was beyond fine. This was great. He’d exchange blowjobs until the end of the galaxy and back. When it came down to it, he didn’t care what Lance wanted to give him. He’d be happy just getting to sleep in the same bed as him. Being able to hold his hand. Having someone to push fingers through the mullet he claimed to hate so much. Just Lance _being_ happy. Not to say the mouth around his dick wasn’t a very _very_ welcome bonus.

        Keith tensed and before he could open his throat up enough to sputter anything out Lance was ready. At least he was more prepared than Keith had been two weeks ago when he’d done this. He’d already grabbed a tissue. He stroked Keith through his orgasm, kissing at his hip bone, his left hip bone. Lance always seemed to favor Keith’s left side. That side of his neck was always the one with the hickies, that shoulder always the one bit. Now he was nipping at his left hip as Keith came.

        Keith would deny he made a sound at all, let alone the whimpered squeak that escaped him. Luckily he didn’t have to defend himself. His boyfriend was too smitten, kissing his way back up his torso and cleaning him up with another tissue. So prepared, like he was thinking while he did all this, not just diving in. Maybe that was why he was so good at kissing and stuff. He _thought_ about what he was doing with his mouth, unlike Keith.

        Lance placed a sloppy kiss halfway into Keith’s lips, like he’d missed. He then fell forward over Keith, grinding into his thigh.

        Okay, maybe he didn’t know what he was doing either. That made Keith smile. He pushed his thigh between Lance’s legs. He could feel Lance’s rolling his jaw, his face pressed against his cheek.

         “Was that okay?” he asked.

         “That was great,” Keith instantly responded.

         “A decent substitute?” Lance asked. Keith froze for a moment. His hands slid up to Lance’s shoulder to push him back a little.

         “It wasn’t a great substitute,” he said sternly. “It was just great, on its… own merits,” Keith said, trying to find the right words to make Lance understand. “I liked it because it was you and it doesn’t matter _what_ it is,” he tagged on, feeling corny saying it.

        Lance looked equally embarrassed, not by Keith’s words, but at himself, “I just meant… I mean, I want to make sure you’re not frustrated. With me. You know?”

         “I’m not,” Keith insisted quickly. He pushed a forceful kiss onto his lips, demanding he be reassured by it. “I was just… surprised before. I didn’t mind changing gears,” he said. Lance still didn’t _feel_ convinced to him. He didn’t want to lie and say he didn’t want it. Of course he did. But. mostly he just wanted _Lance_.

         “You know you never have to if you don't want to," Keith added, softly, sliding a hand down over Lance’s.

        "What?" Lance asked, frowning.

        "I mean, it's fine if you never want to go further than this,” he offered.

        "I DO want to," he insisted, pushing up further on his hands to look down seriously at Keith. Keith reached over and ran a thumb over his knuckles and nodded. He didn't want argue with Lance. Lance's face went from upset to something almost pouting, "And what do you mean I don't have to? Don't you want to?" he asked, incredulously.

        "Of course," he replied, because of course!

        "What, and so you want to, but you wouldn’t be disappointed if we never did?” Lance pressed, seeming like he'd already decided on the answer in his head.

        "Look," Keith felt a little annoyed, a bit with Lance but more with himself. His face scrunched up a bit as he thought about how to explain it. "Look," he started again after a long moment's pause. "It's like, I'd been fantasizing about Hunk's cookies all day, right?" he looked to Lance who already looked skeptical but he soldiered on, "And I get back after a mission and I say, Hunk, I am craving some of your cookies! And he says 'oh I didn't make cookies but I have a layered Taujeerian pudding cake I just finished'," Keith paused, glancing to Lance to see if he was still listening. "It's not like I'm not going to enjoy cake, because everything Hunk makes and delicious. So, sure I came in for the cookies, but I'm now happily eating Pudding Cake,” he paused. “Understand?"

        Lance was staring. Keith grimaced because that was the stupidest analogy ever. He had no idea what he’d been thinking. It seemed absurd in retrospect and he had just compared sex with Lance to a cake and cookies.

        A smile cracked onto Lance's lips.

        "I think that's the best metaphor I've ever heard out of you..." he informed, his tone teasing.

        "Shut up," Keith demanded, shoving him away.

        "No really!" Lance pushed back into Keith's space, leaning in to him, all energy again. "That might be the longest I've ever heard you talk,"

        "No it's not," he snapped back, leaning away.

        "I think it was," Lance teased, leaning still further in as Keith tried halfheartedly to escape.

         “Really, though,” Keith pushed Lance back a little, “I mean it. So, just let me know what you want.”

        Lance was pouting. “I want you to stop trying to reassure me and jerk me off is what a want,” he stated, rolling his hips forward again. Keith blinked and then laughed.

         “Okay,” he agreed. He pushed Lance over and trailed a hand down his chest. He was just about to his hip, when the door shot open. Both of them started. Keith’s mind raced for an excuse. As if the entire ship didn’t already know this was going on. Lance snatched at the blanket, seeming unconcerned if Keith had any means to cover up.

        Kayjay barreled into the room and straight for the bed. Lance barely got a blanket over himself before his new pet had dove between them.

         “How did you even open the door?!” Lance groaned loudly as she landed on his chest. She turned on Keith, a deep rumbling noise as she flipped her coat red to black in a rippling warning. Keith sat back, tossing his legs over the side of the bed.

         “Wait,” Lance said, sitting up, sending the creature tumbling off his chest. Keith got up, searching for his pants.

         “I’m not getting bit up by that thing,” he replied.

         “Oh, come on,” Lance said, pushing the creature towards the edge of the bed. She clung to the sheets next to him, making it comically ineffective.

        Keith ignored him. He felt just a little vindicated to have the creature getting in Lance’s way this time around. He snagged up his shirt.

         “Keeeeeith,” Lance whined after him. Keith could hear him arguing with Kayjay as he pulled on his shirt.

         “Have fun cuddling with your new pet. I’ll try to get another kiss out of you in a week,” he said, and he was mostly teasing. Maybe he was being too mean… but maybe he was feeling a little mean now that that thing was back. It _had_ taken almost a week to finally get a ‘welcome back’ kiss out of Lance, after all.

        He headed back to his room as the scene behind him devolved into chaos and a far too excited fraxefaelis rushing around. That was Lance’s problem, though.

 

 

        Keith was just starting to fall asleep, even though his bed was a little too hard and he was a little too cold, when the door swooshed open. He sat up sharply, hand ready to shoot for his bayard. He relaxed again when he saw the outline of Lance, pillow in tow. He laid back down.

        Lance padded over, tossing his bathrobe aside and shoving his Voltron slippers under Keith’s bed. Keith scooted back without having to be asked. Lance dropped the pillow down before crawling in after it. They did this all silently in the dark.

         “You know,” Lance finally said, after forcing his way under the covers and shoving himself demandingly against Keith. “That was kind of a dick move.”

         “Hm, so was bringing home a pet without asking me,” he replied, and he must be more asleep than he realized, because he didn’t mean to complain about that. His more conscious brain didn’t think he had a right to. There was a long pause.

         “Oh my god,” he whispered. “You don’t like KJ,” he sounded stricken.

         “I don’t dislike Kayjay,” Keith denied. His face scrunched up in frustration for a moment, because Lance sounded heartbroken. He sighed. “I just… missed you.” There was another long pause.

         “Aww…” he said softly. All at once arms and legs and Lance were all wrapping around him. He groaned at the suddenly flair of affection. He hadn’t wanted to fully wake up. “Were you jealous I was spending all my time with KJ?” he asked.

         “No!” he burst. No, not jealous, just annoyed. Just lonely. He didn’t it aloud.

         “I’m sorry,” Lance said, a little calmer. He didn’t pull away, instead he pulled Keith in even closer and tucked him under his chin. Keith huffed out a sigh into Lance’s chest, but he didn’t mean it. He untangled an arm to throw it around Lance.

         “Isn’t Kayjay upset it doesn’t get to sleep with you?” Keith asked after a moment.

         “Hmm. I rolled her in my blanket and snuck away. I might not have a blanket by morning, but you’ll just have to keep me warm then,” Lance said, which was stupid because Lance was the space heater out of the two of them. Keith was all icy fingertips and cold noses without him.

        “I can do that,” Keith lied. Lance laughed into the top of his head. Everything was warm and cozy and Lance, and Keith was already felling back asleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY! The next update might take a little while for me to get out, I'm not sure how busy I'll be in the coming weeks.  
> Sorry ( ･ั﹏･ั)
> 
> That being said, the next chapter (or two) should finish up this fic! WHoo!
> 
> Also thank you all for your comments and kudos and bookmarks! You're all such sweethearts (and all you all who were super concerned about Keith last chapter are like double sweethearts! Hahaha)
> 
>  **Edit** : Oh yeah, I doodle the Precipere we met a couple chapters ago. Y'all wanna see them?


	10. Collapsing Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance wakes up and everything's great. Lance wakes up again and everything is really not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter because this didn't really fit with the rest of the next chapter, so I just kinda made it its own mini chapter.
> 
> I'll post the longer chapter in the next couple days ♥

        Lance sat up. He couldn’t stay laying down. Every inch of him was bristling with anxiety. He’d been so calm just a few hours ago. He’d felt soothed and smothered with affection. Now he couldn’t breathe quite right. He was glad he was alone, at least, because he didn’t want to explain this, mostly because he couldn’t.

        Lance pulled his legs up to his chest, collecting himself together, but it didn’t help. He folded over, head falling forward on the bed and took in even breaths. It was a stupid thing to do _this_ over. He _knew_ it was stupid. He had made a mistake though. He had made a decision without thinking the actual consequences through. It had felt so _right_ at the time. He had been so _sure._ But now he felt just as sure he never should have brought KJ home with him.

        She had been nothing but a nuisance to every person on the ship, except maybe Coran. She’d stolen Pidge’s tools, gotten a claw stuck in Shiro’s arm joint, run directly through dinner preparations twice and almost catching on fire the second time, nearly eaten three out of the four mice. Worst of all Keith hated her. He’d assumed Keith would love her instantly, like he had, but he didn’t.

 

        Two hours ago, none of this was in his head. He was still basking in the bliss of getting more than four vargas of sleep and having his boyfriend sprawled over him.

        Keith had pulled out of his arms early that morning, too early. Lance grumbled, because he was not at all done cuddling yet. He pushed up and felt grumpy, which was only solidified when he glanced to the clock and saw it was 32.03, the 4am equivalent on the castle.

         “Go back to sleep,” Keith commanded as he tugged on his boots. Keith hadn’t been expecting Lance the night before. He knew because Keith had worn his clothes to bed like back before they’d started sleeping together. Lance had apparently failed to get him entirely out of that weird habit.

         “I’m getting up,” Lance insisted, rubbing his face and wishing he’d worn his exfoliating mask the night before. Keith finished tying up his boots and turned on the edge of the bed, pulling one leg up enough to face Lance entirely.

         “You haven’t been getting enough sleep,” he stated, reaching a hand out to Lance’s chest to push him back over. It was 4am. Lance fell back over and his eyes slipped shut.

         “What? Do I look that bad?” Lance asked, not bothering to open his eyes again.

         “You look tired,” Keith replied matter-of-factly.

         “That means I look ugly,” Lance said with certainty. He hadn’t realized he’d been so obviously sleep deprived. He must have been looking haggard is even Keith noticed.

         “It means tired.” Keith twisted his body more to lean over Lance. “So, sleep.” He pressed his lips to his lips in a solid smoosh against Lance’s then pulled away swiftly. It was Keith’s ‘let’s be practical’ kiss. It was warm and dependable and usually made Lance want to do horribly impractical things, like pepper him with kisses all over his face in the middle of battles.

        Lance hummed an affirmative, because it _was_ too early, and slipped back into sleep.

 

        He woke up a few hours later to fold in on himself, panic rising in his chest.

        He felt sick as the thought repeated over and over in his head, that he’d made a mistake bringing KJ home. She was a wild animal, he knew, but he’d loved her. He’d been spiraling and she’d saved him. Okay, Hunk had saved him, but still! She had helped! And Keith was supposed to love her instantly and she was supposed to just blend into their family.

        Family.

        God.

        Fuck. What was he even doing?

        He started to wonder if all of this was just to alleviate the weight in the pit of his stomach. The one that he’d just learned to live with these years in space, because it would never go away. The one that got so much heavier whenever he thought about how much he belonged back on Earth. No. He’d wanted space for so long, he didn’t want Earth. He wanted his family. He wanted to send letters home to his mom and hear how proud of her little boy she was. Even more, he just wanted her to know he was safe, he wanted them all to know he was safe.

        On his worst days, he wondered what they’d told her had happened to him.

        His mind spun downwards faster than it had in a long time. His breathing felt out of his control. He pulled tighter in on himself, arms going over his head. He was so far pulled into himself that he couldn’t even be convinced to move at the sound of the door swooshing open. Even the fear of someone finding him like this didn’t shake his determination to collapse his existence in on itself.

        Quiet padding moved through the room. Every step was so clear in his mind that, without looking, he knew were the feet were. To the laundry hamper, to the dresser with the quiet thumps and pattering over the top and a drop back down. Then circling the dropped towel on the floor. There was a myriad of pattering feet causing dozens of little depressions on the bed around him. First he was circled, then investigated until a whole in his defenses was found. A muzzle shoved between his arms where they let just the smallest gap.

        Lance let the air excape out of him in a loud huff, then pulled in a large gasp of it to compensate for not breathing while KJ had moved through the room. After an initial jump away at the rush of air, she pushed in deeper, pressing her face close to his mouth. She had a strange fondness for Lance’s morning breath. Maybe it reminded her of home, though he hoped it wasn’t as bad as the smell of bile and rotting wood.

        Every part of Lance individually eased out of panic mode. It was not a coordinated effort, each part picking its own pace. The insistent nuzzling and demand for attention hurried the process along. It didn’t return him fully to normal Lance, not yet, but he was floating rather than sinking. He felt himself unfold and fall back onto the bed in a flop.

        KJ skittered back when Lance’s limbs flopped out of their tense posture. She didn’t take long to crawl into the newly available space, though. In her new home, without the opening and closing of the giant beast she’d lived in, it seemed her sleep schedule had quickly become ‘when Lance is vertical and snugglable’. She tucked herself against his side, burying her head just below his armpit and seemed set to settle in to sleep.

        Everything was still a little numb. By the time every ounce of panic ran out of him, he just felt exhausted. Then it all felt silly. His hand ran across KJ’s plated coat. It was perfectly smooth when Lance let his fingers follow the natural flow of it. Any other path and the coat felt coarse and hard, but if he followed the path of least resistance, his hand slid smoothly down the little alien from her neck down her winding body to the edge of her tail. He picked his hand up and repeated the gesture, gliding over her. She turned and opened herself up to the affection.

 

        The door swooshed open again. Lance was staring up at the ceiling with the blank sort of peacefulness that could only come in the aftermath of a near collapse. Every limb was jelly. His brain too, just a bit.

         “Lance, let’s go!” Keith called. He sounded so normal that for a moment it was startling to Lance. He’d forgotten the entire world hadn’t nearly collapsed with him moments ago, or minutes, or hours. Lance had no idea. Jelly wasn’t good at telling time. He managed to sit up, somehow.

        KJ burst off of the bed and started dashing about, trying to do all the exploring she’d forwent in favor of snuggling up to Lance.

         “How did she even get IN here?” Keith snipped at KJ and she darted across his path and he had to change the trajectory of his foot in air to avoid stepping on her. The foot came down with an awkward clomp, but KJ remained unsquashed.

        A little small version of the panic from moments before rose in his chest and tried weakly to strangle him. It barely had the chance, though.

         “Yeah, well, you come too, Kayjay,” Keith said, addressing the new pet directly for the first time. Lance turned to stare as she wove between Keith’s legs, doing figure eights around his feet. “Yeah yeah yeah,” he said, picking up one foot to ruin the obstacle course she’d made of him. She paused, so Keith nudged her hind legs wish his foot, causing her to leap forward and out the door. “There we go!” Keith said with a small, triumphant smile.

        The panic lost its hold on Lance entirely when Keith turned back with a grin.

         “Come on! We have training, and Pidge might just have picked up a distress call,” Keith reported.

         “Right…” Lance nodded.

        Keith paused in the doorway before walking back over. He didn’t say anything just lean in to put their foreheads together for a moment, like he could leech whatever was going on directly out of Lance’s brain like that. KJ bound back over and leapt onto the bed. A moment later she leapt back off as quick as the peck from Keith hit Lance’s lips. She then darted forward in front of Keith again as he stood up and headed for the door.

         “I am not afraid to step on you if you keep jumping in front of my feet, buddy. Fair warning,” Keith said. There wasn’t venom in his voice, though. Irritation, maybe, but no more than he’d given Lance their first few months in space. KJ had a chance, then.

        Lance smiled. He hadn’t made a mistake. She was part of the family.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **EDIT** : Hey guys! Just to let you all know, this is the end of the KJ Saga, for the most part. I honestly never thought the most polarizing thing I'd write is "Lance gets a pet" but her we are! Hahaha. Whether you loved her or hated her, this is a story about communication and figuring out how to deal with the needs of people you care about, and that's what these boys will continue to do. ♥♥♥
> 
> Thank you for continuing to read! Full update soon!


	11. Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kieth has some planning to do.  
> And just as a reminder, never tell Hunk your secrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! Main update time!!
> 
> Thank you all for your comments and kudos and bookmarks! It helps me keep committed to actually finishing this and not getting distracted with the millions of other fics I want to write! Hahaha

         “You’re moping,” Hunk stated as he finished adding what he hoped would be the best damn cocoa replacement ever into his cake mix. He didn’t need to look back over his shoulder to know it was true.

         “I’m not,” he lied.

         “Still haven't gone all the way with Keith?” Hunk ventured a guess. He wasn’t sure if it was the safest bet, given how chipper Keith had seemed earlier in the morning, but Lance’s worries were not always reality based.

         “Yeah! I just… I really want to, but it always—I don’t know!” Lance half shouted back, falling over onto the kitchen table. Hunk dusted his hands off on his apron and turned away from his mixing.

         “Calm down,” he half demanded and half soothed. “It’s okay. The rest of the stuff you do cool, right?”

         “It’s fantastic,” Lance muttered into his arm, half staring up at his best friend.

         “Well…” Hunk paused thoughtfully, “if he says he’s down with just that stuff, and you’re down for just that stuff then…”

         “No but I WANT to have sex. Like full blown, in the ass, gay sex in space,” Lance announced emphatically.

        Hunk had to give himself a moment on that one. That wasn’t the sort of mental image he needed stuck in his head.

         “I know,” Lance sighed at Hunk’s silence, “Keith makes me so gay, who would have guessed?” he said, pushing himself back up so he could throw his arms up for emphasis.

         “Like… half the garrison second year if they’d known you were bi,” Hunk suggested. Lance stared, silent for a long moment.

         “What?!”

         “That was _THE_ joke. That you were in love with Keith. how did you not know this? I always defended you man, but you’re really making me look like an ass right now, with the whole dating him thing,” Hunk scolded, doing his best not to smirk.

         “Well!” Lance burst, “Jokes on them because I wasn’t in love with Keith back then.”

        Hunk burst out laughing at that.

         “Really!” Lance insisted. “Not until I was in space!”

         “Pffft!”

         “Don’t you ‘pfft’ me! I really wasn’t,” Lance insisted. “I mean… or at least I didn’t know I was… oh god," it only then fully dawned on him, "I’ve been in love with a man with a mullet for years…” Lance stared into nothingness for a long moment. Hunk thought better of listing all the cadets he would owe money over this. Well, they were officers now, probably.

         “So…” Hunk venture, pulling out a chair to sit down next to Lance. “You want to. He wants to,” he thought on this for a moment, before he came up with a theory. “Do you just need it to be like… the right moment?”

         “What?” Lance narrowed his eyes. He seemed wary of everything Hunk had to say now.

         “Sex,” Hunk said, “Does it just feel like it should be all romantic and gooey instead of the usually, shove each other around until you start making out?” Lance gave Hunk an offended look, as if he _didn’t_ know that’s exactly how they acted. Not even Lance could be that deep in denial. He pressed on. “No, really. Do you want it to be romantic and stuff?”

         “I guess!” he pouted, and Hunk grinned. “Kind of,” he tagged on, probably just because Hunk looked so triumphant. Hunk really needed to start charging for these therapy sessions. He was getting better at them, and they were getting more and more frequent. Maybe he could earn enough Coran Cash to get out of debt with The Mice. He wasn’t sure how, but he was pretty sure they were going to send the big one to break his legs one of these days.

         “So… tell Keith that,” he suggested.

         “I can’t just _tell_ Keith I want him to take me on a romantic date and fuck me,” Lance replied. Hunk couldn’t fathom why not. Keith seemed like he’d be relieved to be given step by step instructions on how to date. After a moment, a quieter, more honest comment slipped from Lance’s lips. “What if that’s not even the problem?”

         “Then you’ll still get a romantic date out of it?” Hunk offered with a shrug.

         “And a disappointed boyfriend,” Lance tagged on grimly.

         “He’s clearly not disappointed,” he replied without a pause.

        Lance pouted.

         “Do you want _me_ to tell him for you?” Hunk offered.

         “Absolutely not” Lance said resolutely.

 

***

 

         “Lance wants you to take him on a romantic date” Hunk told Keith when he was walking out of the training room. Keith jumped, ready to fight Hunk for a moment. Only after he recognized him as not a threat did he try to process the actual words.

         “Huh?” Keith finally managed.

         “He wants a cheesy, super romantic set up for your first time,” Hunk said with a tidbit more clarification.

         “Oh.” Keith said, then his eyes widened, “OH.” He said with more emphasis. “OKAY.” Keith looked startled. Honesty, it’s was hilarious, cute even. He was already lost in his thoughts a moment later. His eyes darted back and forth after they’d shrunken from the size of saucers, trying to plan this all in his head and already overwhelmed at the prospect.

         “Quality couples counseling advice like this isn’t free, you know,” Hunk said. Keith blinked, glancing up at him, “Information like this costs te—twenty. Twenty Coran Cash,” Hunk tried. He was joking, mostly.

         “Huh? Oh. Yeah okay,” Keith mindlessly nodded, fishing around in his pockets and just handing the cash over without a thought. Hunk blinked as the in Castle currency was handed out without question. He almost gave it back, but, well, he did have debts to pay.

 

***

 

        Keith wasn’t very good at romantic stuff, but he let the idea mull over in his head for the next few weeks. It was when Pidge casually mentioned what the date would be on Earth, that things started to come together in Keith’s head. He had a plan, but he wouldn’t be able to pull it off alone.

 

         “Coran I need your help,” Keith said, stepping into the engine room as the man fiddled with something nonessential, or at least Keith supposed nonessential since there were no alarms going off.

         “I’ll be with you in a moment, Keith,” he said in his usual chipper, if distracted tone. He nodded as he kept working.

         “It’s for a surprise for Lance,” he started to explain. For a moment, he was afraid the Altean would have whiplash with how fast his head shot around.

         “What sort of surprise?” he asked. He liked to act like he was impartial in his bestowing of his weird uncle sort of love, but Keith knew the truth. Lance was the favorite. Keith couldn’t be bothered to be jealous. Coran was grinning ear to ear in anticipation.

         “I need your list,” Keith said.

         “Which one,” Coran asked, “I have several—you see! When I was stationed on Intentarii 3, I learned the ancient art of list mak—” Lance was also his favorite because they could trade pointless stories for hours on end. It was fun to watch them chatter back and forth, but Keith’s attention span was drained in a matter of minutes, usually.

         “The one of planets,” Keith cut in as politely as he could.

         “Planets? Planets… the list of planets,” Coran mused over the request. Keith was just about to clarify when Coran’s eyes lit up, “Ah! Yes! The list of planets for Lance! Of course, Keith my boy!” He announced, whipping out his data pad. He flicked his finger, scrolling through a crazy sorting procedure which would keep their data safe for the pure absurdity and lack of decipherable organization. Of course, Coran always seemed to know where things were, Lance and Pidge too. Occasionally Shiro would have a moment on insight. Hunk, Allura, and him were utterly lost. There was some mad genius thing going on that they didn’t get.

         “Here we go!” Coran beamed. “I will forward it along to Red. She’ll be able to get the information anywhere you need it,” he said with a grin. “Though most of them aren’t constant. You’ll have to check each one individually until you find one for him,” Coran said with a bit of a frown. “The more sure fire ones are a little… dangerous, which Lance doesn’t seem to be as much of a fan of.”

         “Yeah, he’d like to survive the visit,” Keith agreed.

         “Which takes then entire challenge out of it!” Coran replied shaking his head, “What’s the point if it’s not dangerous?” Coran asked. Keith stared for a moment, surprised he understood the sentiment. He shook his head though.

         “It’s about relaxing,” he tried to explain.

         “That’s what bright flower fill fields are for,” Coran protested. Keith laughed.

         “Weren’t you working on something?” Keith said, completely changing the topic. He’s quickly learned that sudden topic shifts were the easiest way to deal with Coran’s questions.

         “Yes! I was working on finding a way to re-polish the refractor crystals the sub unit of the internal fields system of the training room. The problem is, you can’t just open up the training room floor without first shutting down the…”

        Keith smiled and nodded. Coran didn’t even notice him grabbing Pidge as she walked by the open door and replacing himself with her. He didn’t bother explaining. Pidge had at least some idea what system he was trying to work on. As for Coran, well, to a certain extent Keith was pretty sure all of them, except Lance, were fairly well interchangeable as a listening partner as far as he was concerned.

        The important thing was, Keith had the planets. Red sent him a quick update, to let him know he’d received the information from Coran.

        He moved on to the next thing on his to-do list. He checked the mission log to make sure he could spare a day before sending a message to their most recent intergalactic allies. He’d be paying them a visit sooner than expected. He didn’t think Lisarhy would mind.

 

 

        Keith fought 6 Precipere officers before Lisarhy would so much as consider discussing why he’d come. They weren’t Her officers, though. These were new recruits that she assured Keith needed to know what it was like to lose. They were the best of the best from their home world academy, but they had never fought an enemy they hadn’t known from years of studying. Keith would guess that Lisarhy’s greatest grievance towards the Galra Empire was the prison it had put her people in. Their price for freedom was isolation. The price of isolation was the degeneration of their culture.

        Keith beat every one of them, leaving them bewildered, humbled, and some even seeming angry. Lisarhy’s grin didn’t fade as her new recruits failed one after another, her sharp teeth bared in amusement. Her senior officers, the one’s Keith had promised to have his team ready to beat, watched casually from the sidelines as they passed. They would grin a toothy grin as well, though none of their lips split nearly as wide as Lisarhy’s, making them look tame in comparison.

        Periodically a group of Officers would pause when a new recruit was at their most intense, taping their ear piece to find a way around Keith’s fighting style. With exchanged mischievous looks they would start calling out different songs in loud hums. Sometimes they threw multiple songs out at once creating a cacophony to distract the poor newcomer. The recruit would completely lose their concentration and crumble. The officers would cackle from the sidelines.

        At first Keith let his opponent recover when they did this. He soon realized that it was part of the game, though. These recruits needed real world experience before they were thrown against an opponent who really _did_ want to kill them. Who was Keith to deny them that? So, he swept their legs out from under them, or threw them to the ground and pinned them, to remind them to focus. Lisarhy loved it. She grinned at the dour expressions on her newest soldier’s faces. They brightened at least a little when the officers came in to tell them that Keith was a Paladin of Voltron. Better to get thrown around by a legendary warrior than some random alien.

        When she had run out of recruits to have Keith smack around, Lishary stepped out into the ring.She demolished Keith. He could claim it was because of all the previous matches he’d just been in, but he wouldn’t bother. She hadn’t been lying when they parted ways before, she had his number, had him pegged. It felt to Keith that she knew ever move he was going to make before he’d even figured it out. Even so, he landed a few hits, though not as many as he would have liked before she had him in an unshakable lock.

         “You seem less determined to surprise me,” Lishary noted calmly from on top of him. “Is it the change in audience?” she asked Keith, pinned with his face shoved into the ground. Keith wheezed out a sound and Lisahry took her knee off his back.

        Keith pushed himself up and took in a sharp breath before he actually considered her words. His lips twitched into a ghost of a smile. “Maybe a little.”

         “Oh!” Lisarhy’s eyes lit up, “Is that so?” She asked and her voice picked up a Lance like lilt. Yeah. She definitely had his number.

         “That’s actually… sort of why I’m here,” he said, getting up and rolling his shoulders after that last hold threatened to pull one right out of its socket.

         “Not just to whip my crew out of its self-complacency?” she asked. He laughed.

         “It was an added bonus,” he replied. She smiled and shooed off her officers as she and Keith settled in to talk. All of them left but one, the officer who had lost to Shiro on their previous encounter. Kezh lingered nearby while the other’s marched back to their duties. He didn’t move until Lisarhy waved him off specifically. He gave Keith a hard look before he nodded to them and left.

         “Does he not like me?” Keith had to ask, watching him go. He always felt like he was missing something at moments like these.

         “Oh, no,” she said, waving off the thought, “he just really enjoyed talking with Lance. I think he’s a little jealous,” she replied, still speaking in a Lance-ish rhythm. It made Keith smile. He didn’t realize Lance had such a specific way of speaking until hearing it in another voice.

         “Ah…” Keith wondered if he should tell Lance he had his own alien crushing on him. He’d consider that later, right now he had a to-do list to get to.

 

        It was about a varga later and Keith sat cross-legged on the ground, two gooey liquid pots between himself and the Precipere General. She had taken off her bright stripes of fabric when they’d retired to her personal quarters. After she knew why he was there, she had brought him directly back and started rummaging through a cluttered mess of a closet. Things were stacked to fit more than was reasonable to keep in such small living quarters, all put together like a wall of tetris that had to be taken down and reassembled any time anything was needed. She had eventually retrieved two little pots and a box full of colors.

         “I’m glad I get to do this with you,” she said, in a calm voice, her Lance tone had dwindled as they set up and she fell into that deep even tone she’d first used with Keith. Without the threat of death, it was very pleasant, Keith thought. He still was confused at the comment and she seemed to notice. “It was convenient that my fingers were dyed the day we fought, but they were not dyed for you,” she clarified.

        She stirred tight little circles around the blue pot, the last bits turning liquid. The red had liquefied quicker, but it was also bubbling harder. It looked way too hot for Keith’s liking. “The red will honor the meeting much better, if a little belatedly.” She gestured to the bubbling pot.

         “Oh…” finally Keith understood the second pot, he hadn't thought to question her earlier about it, “You don’t have to dye your fingers for me!” Keith insisted, suddenly self conscious at the idea of anyone going through a ‘ritual’ to honor him. Her laugh was soft and trilling and he found himself unable to keep the anxious feeling as she spoke. The rhythm of her words overwhelmed the uncertain one in his chest.

         “It is an overdue curtesy, and, call me vain, but I enjoy having an excuse for fresh dye,” she said bringing her fingers up into few to wiggle them, a purplish color much lighter than they had been before. They had faded enough to be able to see the dotted patterning along the tips of her fingers. “My fingers were fading from the last challenger,” she said with a sigh, bemoaning her lack of frequent fights.

         “Ah, well… I could dye my fingers for you instead?” Keith offered a little lamely, then chuckled at her dry expression. He wasn’t sure how he could read it so well, given her eyebrows were just tufts and her lips always tilted a little downward. He knew what the look meant though, and he nodded. “I suppose you’re right.

         “Of course. You will be blue for your Blue Paladin. It fits. Blue is a good symbol for a lover,” she said. She had taken his hand in hers and pulled it forward into the warm liquid. It felt like pushing his fingers into melted wax. At first it was warm and liquidy, then it started to collect feeling thicker around his fingers. It effectively distracted him from the use of the word “lovers” for him and Lance. She tilted the hand this way and that to get each finger to the right level. Everything she did was with such an easy pace. It was oddly peaceful to give himself, or well, at least his hand over, to her guidance.

         “Why is blue a good color for us?” Keith asked eventually, watching her as she worked. She was pretty in an odd sort of way. He wondered if Lance would say she was cute if he saw her like this, hair a feathery light mess around her head, and her face looked rounder, too. Not that her face wasn’t always round in general, but before it had been smooth and precise, now it just felt soft. Even her eyes, despite their eerie paleness and sharpness, felt gentler.

        She turned up her head and her lips split in the middle to show teeth.

         “Blue is the symbol of a challenge you hope never to overcome,” she explained. She pulled his hand up and directed it to stay hung downward in the air, taking his other hand. The blue waxy substance dried and stuck to his finger as it hardened. He just stared at his other hand, now in the little pot. A challenge he never wanted to overcome...

         “What’s red then?” he asked when she’d finished his second hand. He waited patiently for them to dry, hands handing in the air carefully. He was unsure if he’d stain things if he set them down, even after they dried.

         “Red is Death and Birth. Red is for change and new challenges.”

         “I like that,” Keith said with a smirk.

         “Of course you do. You cannot stay to a single song for more than two beats,” Lisarhy teased, affectionately. She reached over and tapped his fingers to inspect their hardness. She then waved for him to stop hovering them like an idiot. He let them down to his lap.

         “There are a lot of good songs,” Keith replied with a light shrug. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be proud of her comments or embarrassed.

         “Ah, and you are determined to find them all? A noble cause, even if finding them all in yourself can be a challenge,” she said with a laugh.

         “I don’t know if I’ll ever find them all in _myself,_ ” Keith replied, thoughtfully. He was thinking of the rest of team Voltron, of the things they had, the temperaments and patience, that he could never dream of gaining, not in a million years.

         “That is why we share rings,” Lisarhy said, eyes lighting up at the comment, giving her a perfect opening, “To share new songs and new challenges with those who are what we cannot be, and those we hope to sing in harmony with,” she spoke in her low even manner. She threw her fingers right into the bubbling red and didn’t even cringed. Keith imagined that after doing this so many times, her fingers must have been desensitized to the heat.

         “And Blue is for one we never want to overcome?” Keith repeated, still chewing over the words, “Someone that will always challenge us,” Keith said, nodding to himself. “You’re right. Blue is exactly how I feel about him.”

        Lisarhy shook her hands lackadaisically as they dried then looked back up at him.

         “I am glad,” she said after a moment, “His pattern is so carefully set and yours is quick and plucked, changed at a moment’s notice. Only strong relationships, good or bad, can come from such a pairing. You would either drive him to madness or lust,” she said simply.

         “Tssh!” Keith felt his cheeks go a little warm. “Sometimes I don’t know that they’re exactly indistinguishable,” Keith suggested.

         “T’HA!” Lisarhy laughed sharply, a sound something like her ‘tsk’ but formed from a smiling mouth. “Right you are, darling, right you are,” she said. She spoke with such affection in her deep, warm voice that Keith was hit with the indescribable wish that he’d had an older sister growing up. Or maybe this was what he should have felt to a mother. Someone to dote on him and call him sweet names and speak to him with advice without a hint of conceit.

        He just smiled at her and she smiled back and that seemed good enough.

        Keith was directed to break the blue cast over his fingers when they turned chalky and white. Smashing them down was oddly satisfying, cracking them and then wiggling his newly freed fingers until all the bits fell off.

        Despite knowing how it was supposed to work, he was still shocked to see the vivid blue had sunk into his skin with the perfect straight lines where the cast had stopped. Lisarhy cracked off hers to reveal red as bright as Keith’s Lion. He marveled at their fingers as she took his hand and rooted out the extra hardened bits from beneath his nails. He let her groom him. It was soothing and she finished by pulling over each finger, relaxing it after the long minutes stuck awkwardly still. When she was done she sat back.

         “It is a beautiful color and it suits your hands well,” she assured. It felt like she was more giving her blessing to Lance and his relationship than his fingers. He barely knew this woman, but for some reason, it meant the world to him that she approved.

         “Thank you, I think so to,” he replied warmly.

        Everyone asked him why his gloves had fingers on them when he got back, even Allura. Coran offered him a pair of scissors, which he would refuse. He should have known a change of gloves would cause a to-do among Team Voltron.

 

 

 

         “Hunk!” Keith had shouted to him, eyes big and hopeful and well, how was Hunk supposed to refuse anything he asked for when he was wearing a face like that?

        That was how he’d ended up trying to teach Keith, who could burn water, who could decimate a Galra legion with his bare hands but not make scrambled space eggs, how to cook. He should have said no, or at least charged more than 10 Coran Cash for the lessen. He had even offered to just _make_ the food for him, but that was apparently unacceptable.

         “You said it has to be romantic, right?” Keith asked, refusing to look up from the little cream puff he was filling. He looked like he was attempting brain surgery not baking with his intensity. “So, it’s not romantic if I just got us take out.” The puff was a mess when he pulled away, his expression relaxing. He wiped his brow as if he’d been sweating from the exertion of using the filling bag.

        Hunk sighed, “Yeah…” he admitted, cringing a little watching him go for the next malformed puff, “but are you sure everything will… taste how you want for your romantic getaway?” Hunk asked, trying to be as gentle as possible. He’d eaten some of Keith’s cooking before, when he’d been on away missions and couldn’t just eat goop. The results were… mixed. And that was putting it kindly.

         “Romantic isn’t about things being the best quality, that’s extravagance,” Keith said with certainty and Hunk was surprised at the insight. He paused for a moment and Keith’s eyes darted up to Hunk’s, widening a little, “Right?” he asked.

         “Right,” he said with a nod, he thought about this for a moment before he came up with a way to help. “I can’t do the one’s you take, but I can show you how to do it, so come here,” he said, pulling Keith over and reaching around to direct his hand.

        Keith took to the instruction with the utmost seriousness. Hunk had to correct basically everything but his knifework, though even that it made him nervous to watch. If it was anyone but Keith, he’d shout that they were going to lose a finger. But, well, Keith and knives. Hunk restrained himself and Keith managed to have ten fingers at the end of things.

        He was moderately certain everything would be at least edible when they were done. He let out a satisfied sigh looking at the spread they ended up with.

        Then he panicked.

         “Wait wait wait!” Hunk said rushing over before Keith just slopped everything together in some Tupperware. “Good presentation DOES count for romance,” he insisted frantically.

         “Oh!” Keith’s hand stilled. “Right,” he said with a nod. He then looked over the food, clearly at a loss on how to do ‘good presentation’.

        Hunk laughed a little bit of a strained laugh as he realized this might be the hardest part. He was quickly proved right. For all of Keith’s finesse in other areas, he had no patience for the art of pastry decoration or plating design. And making packed food beautiful was an artform in and of itself.

         “Like this! Like this!” Hunk said, gesturing with his hand. Keith looked like he was holding his breath as he mimicked the gesture, the topping came out in a perfect dollop. Keith stared for a moment then turned to Hunk, seeming stunned at his own success.

         “YEAH!” Hunk shouted in triumph and Keith’s face bloomed into a grin. They both started laughing and Hunk realized, okay, maybe it wasn’t so hard to image dating Keith. He’d have to amend that previous conversation with Lance.

        Hunk wasn’t sure how, but the food all got packed up and hidden away and Hunk’s private cooler so it wouldn’t be eaten by mistake. He was reluctant to tell even Keith about the hide away for his secret ingredients. Keith swore himself to secrecy three times before Hunk agreed to show him. He hoped all the treats he stored away for days the team needed them most wouldn’t disappear by the next time he checked back.

 

 

        Pidge was late getting back from her mission. Keith had started to get impatient. It wasn’t just that his timeline was winding down and Pidge’s assistance would be an integral part of his plan. He was also worried because she was late coming back from a black out area. It wasn’t an unheard of delay and it wasn’t a horribly dangerous sector. The troubling part was that they couldn’t send or receive messages from her until she set up that last Comm Transmitter. Still, Keith didn’t like that they didn’t have any way to know if things had gone sour, or that she’d gone alone.

        A part of Keith felt guilty about his worry. He knew he wouldn’t be worried like this is it were Shiro or, really, any of the other paladins out for a few extra days. She was as capable as the others, and given her lion’s stealth capabilities she was in the least danger during away missions that didn’t involve combat. Still, he couldn’t help his nerves when she went on solo missions.

        Keith had kept a close eye on communications, waiting for any notification from Pidge. Everyone seemed surprised he was so worried.

         “You’re never this worried about Pidge during combat training,” Lance had noted, which irritated Keith. It was stupid to coddle Pidge in training, like Hunk and Lance tended to, and even Shiro and Coran would at times. He didn’t know how to explain that it was the same worry for Pidge that caused both actions. He hadn’t bothered to try. He knew he didn’t have the words.

 

        No one was surprised when Keith was the first to greet Pidge on her return. He grinned when he saw her all in one piece heading out of the docking bay.

         “Hey!” he called after her. She turned and she looked… tired. Not hurt or upset, but worn out. She was still covered in a light smearing of grease and grim, like Hunk after he spent the afternoon under one of his junkers, or ‘classic starships’ as he called them.

        She let out a sigh, “Please, no training right now. _Yes,_ I know sometimes we’ll have to fight right after a mission and it’ll be good for me to learn how to fight under duress or something. Just… not today,” she pleaded, shifting her travelling pack on her shoulder. Keith blinked.

         “Oh… I didn’t even think of that. That’s a good idea,” he replied thoughtfully. Pidge groaned and Keith started to laugh. “Calm down, I just need a favor,” he said. She relaxed a little.

         “Can it wait?” she asked.

         “You tell me. I couldn’t find our calendar converter while you were away. What’s tomorrow?” Keith asked. Pidge narrowed her eyes for a moment, doing a bit of quick math in her head to convert her time away into days and figure the date.

         “It’d be… July 28th?” she offered.

         “Then nope! Need your help tonight,” he said.

         “Why—oh!” Pidge said, as the date dawned on her. She frowned at Keith, “I won’t have to witness any of this plan, right? I get the distinct feeling it’s going to be romantic and disgusting.”

         “It will be,” Keith said with a serious nod. She fake gagged and he chuckled. “I need to make a few calls to some planets to check the weather reports,” he informed.

         “Weather reports. Really?” she asked.

         “Yep,” he replied.

         “And this is going to be super romantic?” She asked.

         “Yep,” he repeated.

         “Okay. Well, you can check your weather reports if you want, but I think I can do you one better,” Pidge replied. Despite how tired she looked, she smiled.

         “How so?” He asked.

        “Come on, I’m gonna see if it works right now, but I’ll need your help,” she said, a nervous energy was suddenly in her eyes, just shy of bursting out. Keith wasn’t sure what to expect, but he nodded and followed. He was almost done with the preparations for his romantic date, he could spare a moment to help Pidge with the Comms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more main chapter to go guys! I'm a little sad that I won't be posting ON his birthday (I won't make you all wait a month and a half, lol), but I _**am**_ really excited that they announced his birthday in time for me to not have to make one up! lol
> 
> And because I promised I would, here's a doodle of the Precipere!
> 
>   
> [Link to Full View!](http://avaguedoodle.tumblr.com/post/161988366760/quick-doodle-page-of-the-precipere-an-alien)  
> Also, considering posting a short aside about Pidge's mission delays. Anyone interested in Pidge deal with weird alien shit??? (might just post it anyway as an additional epilogue or something, idk)


	12. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Romantic getaways are sometimes about finding Home, rather than leaving it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY!! This turned out longer than I was expecting but WHOO!! It's done!! I hope you all enjoy it! ~~(And I hope there's not too many typoes because it was post now or wait a week for time to really edit, lol)~~
> 
> This will be the last Major Update for this fic. After this will just be two short epilogue chapters (a KJ chapter and a short about Pidge's mission).

        Keith was being weird, and not his normal sort of weird. Suspicious weird.

        At first Lance thought he’d pissed Keith off because over the last few days he’d found himself consistently ditched. He quickly dismissed the though, mostly because he kept catching Keith smiling at him when he thought he wasn’t looking. Still, he was up to _something._

        Lance would try to hit Keith up after dinner, only to see him ducking around a corner and disappearing. He tried to grab him after training, but he was already huddled with Allura and Shiro, muttering about something and glancing at Lance as they shuffled further away. He even found the kitchen locked when he went to find Hunk. Of course, Lance still had a way in, but as curious as he was, he wasn’t risking this all being an elaborate ruse by Keith to find out his secret to sneaking into the kitchen. His frustration at not being able to figure it out was too funny to let that one go yet.

        So, in the end Lance just had to accept whatever Keith was planning and let it happen. What bugged him more than not knowing _what_ he was planning, though, was not knowing _why_ he was planning it. It wasn’t anything like their anniversary yet, he didn’t think, not even in Altean years (those were longer in fact). So, he was left to wonder and pout with Pidge gone, Hunk stolen away, and Keith hiding from him.

        Lance tracked down Coran for some entertainment. Unfortunately, he was no more help than the rest of the crew. Upon seeing him, the older Altaen’s eyes widened and he slammed his hand on his counsel, blacking the screen out. Lance stared, shocked and wide eyed at the violent response. Coran stared back equally so.

         “So, uh, hey Coran,” Lance finally said, blinking away his surprise.

         “How lovely to see you Lance, my boy! Whelp you should probably be on your way” he said in one long, loud exclamation.

         “Actually, I was thinking,” Lance started, but was already being shoved along towards the door.

         “Does this have to do with Keith being all weird?” Lance asked, “Because I think, as your favorite, you’re required to tell me what suspicious stuff is going down,” Lance insisted, trying his hardest to resist the push towards the door. His sneakers skid over the flooring and Coran didn’t even seem to notice his resistance. He finally stopped when he’d gotten Lance to the door and Lance spun around.

        Coran wore a soft, thoughtful expression. “Don’t tell the others you’re my favorite. We need to keep up team moral and all,” he said. Lance beamed. It was the first time Coran had actually responded when he’d called himself his favorite. Not that everyone didn’t know, but it still sent a happy little thrill through him to hear.

         “Aww, so I am your favorite?” he asked.

        Coran nodded, “Absolutely.” Then he slammed the door in his face.

        Lance stared at the door that had slid in just an inch from the tip of his nose. He was a little touched by the admittance, but mostly just annoyed.

        Shiro and Allura had even disappeared, probably making out. He was honestly still offended by how beautiful the two of them were. It was unfair for them to be hooking up, collecting all that pretty in one place. He sighed.

        He tried to snag Pidge when she got back, to have _someone_ to hang out with. Of course, though, there was Keith, ushering her away in a hurry. Neither even gave him a second glance.

        So, Lance found KJ, knowing at least the little fraxefaelis would be there for him.

        He found her clung to the front edge of the couch, right so she’d be blocking off Keith’s usually seat. Lance was pretty sure Keith assumed the stolen seats were some attempt to insult him. He took everything KJ did so personally. Lance, after some observation, was convinced it was because Keith Junior just liked the smell of her namesake. She was always able to find his seat, even if she’d never see him in it. He’d even caught her, more than once, sleeping in Keith’s laundry pile too. Next time Keith complained, he had a good bit ready about how Keith smelled like her barfy homeworld that he was dying to use.

        Lance dropped himself dramatically onto the couch. KJ glanced at him as he proceeded to scoot in behind her. He then dragged her into his arms. At first, she protested losing the warmth she’d gathered between her and the couch. Lance was as good as a space heater, though, and she quickly reconsidered. She turned and clung to his shirt, nuzzling into him.

 

 

        Lance woke up to Keith hovering over him. KJ had squirmed out of his arms at some point and his shoulder felt a little stiff. He hadn’t meant to really fall asleep like that.

         “Have you been here all night?” Keith asked, frowning a little too seriously at him.

         “Ahhhah,” Lance yawned some sort of affirmative as he pushed himself up.

         “I was looking for you. Why’d you sleep on the couch?” Keith said. Still too serious. He’d almost call it pouting. He smiled.

         “Because I couldn’t get into the kitchen,” Lance replied. Keith looked startled, like he’d been caught.

         “What does—that doesn’t make sense,” Keith insisted. He was right. It didn’t really, but that wasn’t the point. Keith’s eyes narrowed then. “I thought you could get in and out of the kitchen with your secret passage anyway,” he accused. Lance perked up. So, he _had_ been trying to trick him into revealing how he got in?

         “Whatever,” Keith shook his head, his expression softening to a suspiciously nonchalant one. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. He was still wearing the full fingered gloves. That was also suspicious. “We have a mission,” he explained.

         “I thought I was free today,” Lance replied with a frown.

         “Nope. We have a mission. Go shower or whatever you have to do. It’ll probably be an overnight one,” he informed, not making eye contact.

         “Two days? What’s the mission?” Lance asked, eyeing him.

         “Recon. Nothing big,” Keith said with a shrug. Where was ‘mission report Keith’? This was definitely not a mission at all.

         “Nothing big?” he asked.

         “Yeah,” Keith said with another, very deliberate shrug.

        Lance gave him a hard look, but he wouldn’t look back over to even see it. So, Lance just pushed himself up with a very drawn out “Okaaaaaaay,” to make it very clear he knew something was up.

        He went to beautify himself, because whatever was going on, he was going to face it with clear skin and perfect hair.

 

 

        Keith paced the launching bay with a steadily raising sense of panic as he waited for Lance. He had been so busy _making_ all the plans that he hadn’t had a moment to stop and think about all of them. Now he was left with a few quiet moments to realize this all could look very, very stupid. What did Keith know about being romantic? He had no idea what was romantic. Thinking about everything, it felt like his plan had gotten a bit over complicated.

         “Keeeeith,” Lance’s voice rang out through the launching bay as he came bounding around the corner, looking gorgeous. As always.

        Keith sighed and knew he’d do all sorts of stupid things for his boyfriend, and a romantic date was the least of it. “You ready?” Keith asked.

         “For my totally scheduled, totally not suspicious, mission with just Keith?” he asked. “Of course!”

         “We’ll take Red,” Keith said, turning away before his face was too obvious. Okay, so Lance knew something was going on. He risked a glance back at him and he was following along, looking around as if inspecting every little detail for clues. Good. That probably meant he didn’t know _what_ they were doing at least.

        Their eyes met, Lance catching him staring, and he grinned. Keith looked away. He felt like he was blushing, which was absurd! Something about the ‘romantic date’ thing, made everything feel embarrassing, as if they hadn’t been dating for… Keith didn’t know how long. A while. Did he have to remember anniversaries in space? _Were_ there even anniversaries when you weren’t rotating around a star?

        Allura had popped a wormhole open for them, but since then he hadn’t know what to say. He probably should make small talk. He’d realized he was being awkwardly silent as he flew Red to their destination. Luckily, Lance usually had enough small talk for the both of them.

         “So, then Pidge told Hunk that Shiro told Coran that _Allura_ told her about it, which just completely drove Hunk bonkers! Because, you know Hunk!” Lance laughed perfectly in cue with his story. He was so perfectly paced. Keith could just sit back and let it wash over him. He slowly forgot he was supposed to be worried about anything at all…

 

 

         “Oh!” Keith interrupted right before Lance got to the best part and he jumped a little. When was the last time Keith had spoken? How long had _he_ been the only one talking?

         “What?” Lance said, not remembering where he was in the story anyway.

         “Close your eyes—actually I don’t trust you,” Keith said, setting Red on her path and getting up out of the pilot chair.

         “Well, ex _cuse_ me!” Lance replied, exaggerating his outrage as he moved out of Keith’s way. He opened a compartment and dug around in it. There was only so affronted he could pretend to be, since he absolutely would have peaked. He liked surprises as well as the next person, but it had been days and he was ready for some answers!

        Keith pulled out a strip of red cloth and headed for Lance. “What is that?” he asked.

         “Well, it’s gonna be a blindfold,” Keith stated flatly.

         “You just have a blindfold on hand at all times?” Lance asked. Keith shrugged. “Really?” he pressed. Keith rolled his eyes and reached over to yank him around so he could pull the tie over his eyes.

         “That’s kinda kinky,” Lance noted. He couldn’t help the ridiculous grin that split over his face. Keith’s hands paused for a moment, then yanked the tie tighter than he had to.

         “I like to be prepared,” he replied coolly. Lance couldn’t see his expression, but he could hear the edge of a smile on it. Keith was funnier than people gave him credit.

        Lance was forced to sit there, blind, while Keith landed. He even had to trust him as he started guiding him out of the lion.

         “This isn’t going to be like the invisible maze training, is it?” he asked, as Keith started pushing him.

         “It’s not my fault you can’t take directions,” Keith replied automatically.

         “Oh yeah, it’s _my_ fault you walked me into a wall,” Lance said before something came down over his ears.

         “WHAT IS THIS FOR?” Lance probably yelled, before he realized he couldn’t hear himself regardless of volume. “Really? I can’t hear either?” he asked in what he assumed was a more normal tone. He might have gotten an answer, but he wouldn’t have been able to tell.

        He was led by a single hand on the small of his back. He could tell when they reached the Lion’s mouth before he even hit the ramp. The smell that hit him felt… familiar. He couldn’t quite name it, though. A burst of cool air rushed around him as well, and the humidity shifted. These things always happened when they disembarked on a planet. The atmosphere shifting from the lion’s environment to whatever craziness they were stepping out into. He had never appreciated it all, though, with all his senses to distract him.

        He felt the ground squished under his feet for a couple of steps before they were on hard floor again. The breeze was still there, though it now came from a different direction. He was being led into something, but there was an exit. He started trying to picture his surroundings, using context clues. It was enough of a distraction that he didn’t worry about Keith walking him into a wall for shits and giggles.

        Lance was stopped as a light sprinkle of water hit his face. Keith’s hand disappeared and he was left waiting for a few long moments until he started to feel antsy.

         “You know, you better not be--,” Lance stopped when the earmuffs were taken off. He was greeted by the soft sound of whipping cloth and pattering water. Suddenly the smell was so obvious it was painful. He took in a deep breath on instinct.

         “I know this isn’t the first time we’ve been on planet while there was rain,” Keith began, his voice touched with nerves. The tie behind Lance’s head was tugged away. Lance’s eyes fluttered, adjusting to the low natural lighting. “But it’s never been like back on earth, or not when we might be able to just sit and… uh enjoy it,” Keith went on as Lance stared.

        He was in front of a wall of floor length windows that pivoted on a pole down the middle of each one. They were turned open, curtains hung between them, fluttering this way and that in lazy accordance to the winds. Outside was a vast nothing, a field of rolling hills and far off geological features made hazy by the endless storm that spread out in front of him. And then there was the smell. It had never smelled quite right on other planets. The smell of dirt and wind and wet. He took it all in, surrounded by that soft pattering that closed in around him, warm and familiar in his ears.

         “I guess I didn’t really have to _blindfold_ you for it but I thought it would be kinda nice to--,” Keith was still talking. Lance turned around.

         “It’s great,” he said, and it didn’t feel like enough, but all the poetic babble had left him already. He was just happy. Keith’s eyes went from worried to bright in an instant. He grinned and Lance wanted to kiss that smile more than anything in the world. Before he could, though, Keith was turning away.

         “I made us some dinner, if you’re hungry,” he said, stepping out of the way to reveal the little picnic basket laid out over the floor on a plush looking cross between a cushion and a rug. Lance laughed.

         “Wow, Keith, you’re going all out for this, huh?” he asked.

         “Well, Coran has been looking for planets that match up to Earth’s vegetation and storm patterns for a little while,” Keith explained, “So, really this is all thanks to Coran. And the food Hunk showed me how to make.” Keith puffed up then, “But I made it all!” he paused. “Uh, so hopefully it’s edible,” Keith turned back to take Lance’s hand to pull him to the picnic. He proceeded to pull out a whole feast, piece by piece. There were stuffed grilled solberries, and braised well some sort of meat-like substance with a glaze, and mashed green stuff with herby stuff sprinkled on top. There was even creampuffs to top it all off. Lance gaped.

         “Jeez! You’re really gonna make me look like a shabby boyfriend. How am I supposed to take you on a date half this romantic?” Lance asked, forcing a scowl onto his face, thought it was a struggle in that moment. “What, am I supposed to take you to a knife show and get you into a fight with an alien warlord?”

        Keith grinned as he pulled the plates out of the basket and filled one up for each of them. “Well, that sounds pretty romantic to me,” he replied with a shrug, pushing the plate over. Lance snorted and pull it onto his lap. He shifted so he could look out of the windows as he ate. The two of them sat on the floor and had a rainy-day picnic. Lance felt at peace.

         “So, really… what’s all this for?” Lance asked eventually, when his plate was down to just creampuffs. Everything else had been shockingly edible, so he had high hopes for the dessert.

         “Have you checked Pidge’s calendar recently?” Keith asked.

         “What? Is it Valentine’s day back home?” Lance asked.

         “Not even close,” Keith replied.

         “It’s not our anniversary of some sort, is it? I’ll feel like a real jerk being empty handed if it is. You can’t do that to me,” Lance tried again. Keith just shook his head.

         “So, I have a birthday present for you,” he said, reaching for something in his pocket.

         “It’s my birthday?!” he half shouted. How could he have not known _that_? When had he lost track of days so completely?

         “Heh, yeah, it is,” Keith replied, his hand tightening around whatever he’d pulled out of his pocket. “On my last mission, I was in the Percipere space,” he started. Lance perked up, Keith had been very cryptic about where he’d disappeared to a few days ago.

         “Oh! Did Larry ask to fight you again?” he asked with a smile. He knew the name was wrong, but he liked the annoyed twitch in Keith’s nose. He also knew the leader of the border patrol had been excited to see Keith again. They still addressed him as the leader of Voltron whenever they contacted them, despite all his claims otherwise. Shiro never argued. He even seemed to enjoy the change of pace.

         “Her name is Lisarhy, and yes,” Keith said, he paused, “she completely wrecked me,” he admitted. “I took out 6 of her cadets first though, so there’s that.” He then looked like he was considering adding something. When he didn’t say anything, Lance pipped up.

         “Have you noticed that all your alien friends are combat fanatics? Like, can’t you become friends with a nice elegant mermaid species with great food like a normal person?” he asked.

         “I think you’d like the Percipere if you gave them a chance,” Keith said, “They were very impressed with you.”

         “More impressed with you,” he noted. Keith rolled his eyes.

         “They like you. Kehz apparently had a crush on you after the negotiations,” Keith said with a stupid little grin on his face. He looked too pleased to get to tell the ‘secret’. Lance suddenly wondered if Keith was more of a gossip than he let on.

         “Kehz? The one Shiro fought? Had a crush on me?” Lance asked. He thought about it. The fighter _had_ been quick to pick up his speech pattern, while Lisarhy had stubbornly kept her ‘Keith’ voice.

         “I think he still does, from the way he was glaring at me. I guess you have a very charming way of talking, or something,” Keith explained with a shrug, ducking his head enough to hide the smirk on his lips. His eyes were on his hand instead of Lance. He was turning something around in it.

         “You are way too happy some poor alien is heartbroken over knowing he’ll never have me,” Lance insisted. His eyes were on Keith’s oddly full-gloved hand as well. What did he have in there?

        Keith shrugged again, but still kept his smile. His hand finally stilled. “Anyway,” he said with determination, his eyes flicking up to Lance again. “I wasn’t _just_ there to beat up some Precipere cadets. I decided to get you something.”

        Keeping his hand closed, Keith pulled off one of the gloves. Lance was startled by the bright blue straining, from the middle all the way down to his fingertips. He took the trinket he’d been fiddling with out of his other hand and held it forward. The ring had a smooth charcoal gray outside with a polished sheen to it. The inside matched Keith’s fingers, a bright matte blue. Keith’s eyes were on the ring rather than Lance.

 

 

         “The dark grey represents a rivalry with even standings. The blue is for a challenge you hope you never overcome.” Keith was still holding the ring out the little distance between them. “So, I guess that just sort of means I would like to keep being challenged by you, uh, forever.” He was just about ready to just shove it at Lance, or maybe take it back entirely, when Lance’s hand shot out to pluck it from his fingers.

        Lance wasn’t talking, though. He was just staring at the ring, and Keith was getting that nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach again. Maybe this was all too much. He felt the need to fill the void somehow.

         “It’s kinda a rivalry ring,” he said. “You challenge me and force me to keep bettering myself and I really enjoy competing with you at everything,” Keith rattled off the half-planned speech. It’d look butchered in comparison to the notecards he’d written out. He wasn’t much for giving speeches. He usually left that up to Allura or Lance, or occasionally Hunk.

        He watched the ring disappear into Lance’s hand and he finally managed to force his eyes up to look at his boyfriend’s face. He straightened up suddenly to see how serious Lance looked as he clenched fingers around the gift.

         “You really consider me a rival?” he asked.

        Keith didn’t even know how to respond to that. So, he just said, “yeah.” Because, of course he did.

         “On equal standings?” he asked. This was not the part of his little speech he thought Lance would hook onto. It was a little bit of a relief. The forever bit had felt painfully corny.

         “Lance… you’re my number one rival,” he assured and Lance threw a hand over his mouth. “Are you okay?”

         “Yeah, yeah I’m like perfect. I’m absolutely great. I just might cry for a second here,” he replied. Instead he laughed. He opened his hand, staring down at the ring again. “Which hand do I put this on?” He asked.

         “Middle finger on your dominant hand,” Keith informed. He watched Lance slip it on and was relieved he got the right size when it stayed nicely. He reached for the hand without thinking, pulling it over to inspect. The ring was a bit thicker than the one Lisarhy had given him, but that was because they were Rivals™, not just as a sign of respect, but a promise to continue to challenge each other. He turned the ring on Lance’s finger and enjoyed the little sliver of blue that he could see from the underside. It looked perfect on him.

         “Your fingers are like, **_really_** blue,” Lance noted, apparently not able to look away. Keith blinked. He’d honestly already gotten so used to it he’d forgotten how weird they looked.

         “Yeah, that’s part of the whole Rivalry Ring thing. You dye your fingers. Lishary helped me dye them,” he explained.

         “Ooo! You did nails with your new BFF?” Lance asked excitedly. Keith rolled his eyes, but then stopped and considered.

         “Yeah, I guess I did,” he admitted.

         “That’s adorable. Though next time you’re having a makeover day, we’re giving you a facial,” Lance insisted. He pulled his hands back to his chest and twirled the ring on his finger. His smile wasn’t as mean as it usually was when he said something about Keith’s complexion. He must have really liked the gift.

         “Haven’t you already done that?” Keith asked. He tried his best to keep his expression even.

         “Huh? When did I give you a facial? You never let me do _anything_ for your skin Keith! I don’t remember ever-,” he stopped as he noted Keith’s dead serious expression. He probably looked like he was trying too hard.

         “Oh!”

        Keith broke. He snorted and started laughing, clutching at his sides. Lance glared.

         “Oh, shut up Keith! It’s not my fault your mind is in the gutter while I’m thinking about the wellbeing of your pores!” Lance shoved him and Keith let himself fall over. Still laughing even as Lance demanded he stop.

        They were interrupted as Lance was pushing aside their picnic to tackle him, by Pidge’s voice. Lance startled, but Keith was expecting it.

         “Hey lovebirds,” she called over Keith’s Comm. Keith pulled up his Comm as she went on, “I have things set up, and we don’t wanna run this too long. So, you guys ready?” she asked.

         “Yeah, just a sec,” Keith said.

         “ _Another_ surprise?” Lance asked, raising his eyebrows. “I’m gonna have to find you a half dozen warlords to fight and the best knife polish in the galaxy for your birthday now. Jeez,” he sighed dramatically. Keith smiled.

         “Yeah, uh, just one more thing,” he said as he pulled some of Pidge’s new Comm tech out of his pack. When he pressed the on button, two small orbs lifted from his hand. One split into quarters, a shimmering sheet forming between them, painted with a shifting static. The other hovered just above it.

         “Here,” he said, standing up and offering a hand down to Lance. He looked like he was trying to decide what this surprise could possibly be. Keith pulled him up and lead him over to a little seat near the window. It seemed most comfortable. The little Comm devices obediently followed after them. Only then did he think, maybe he should have given Lance a little more warning…

 

 

        Lance was already a little overwhelmed with the whole day. Not only did Keith consider him a rival, he’d just given him a _ring_ to prove it. And found him rain, and made him a romantic picnic. It was honestly a little much. He didn’t know what Keith could add to a day like this, but he let him pull him over to the bench to find out.

         “We’re ready, Pidge,” Keith said, and the screen shifted shapes and colors as the static buzzing around it clarified into an image of a person. Not, not a person, into something much better. The screen flickered one last time, and there was the most beautiful lady in the world.

        Lance’s mother and him both took in sharp, identical breaths in unison.

         “Lance,” she finally spoke, and god Lance was glad he’d just taken a breath, because he wasn’t sure he could breathe anymore. How had he forgotten how wonderful her voice was? “My baby,” she went on, and Lance felt a sob of a laugh burst out of him. He grinned.

         “Hi Mama,” he said, his voice sounded weak. “I’m sorry I didn’t call,” he managed. “I’ve been a little busy.” He didn’t know where to start. There was so much to explain. How did he even begin to start apologizing?

         “I heard from the green girl and the princess. Or, well, I got some sort of explanation,” she said, shaking her head a little. “I heard you’re supposed to be saving the galaxy.” Lance laughed, because it sounded ridiculous, hell, it _was_ ridiculous.

         “I’m trying. I gotta keep you all safe, right?” Lance asked. His mama smiled. That was all it took. Lance was crying. The tears had been threatening to spill over since the moment he’d seen her, and now they broke over and there was no stopping them

        "I can give you a moment if you want," Keith murmured quietly from next to him, in the sweetest, softest voice. He started to stand but Lance grabbed him, hastily pulling him back down. He wrapped his arm around Keith’s so he couldn’t try to escape.

        "No! No," he choked out, looking between the hovering screen and Keith. He pushed the tears from his eyes with his other hand, but to no avail. They kept coming, leaking over and out of the corners of his eyes with no hint of slowing. He didn't care.

        "Mama, this is Keith. He's my boyfriend and he's gonna keep me safe, okay?" Lance introduced every ounce of love pouring out of him through his mouth. Keith stiffened a little, muttering some poor attempt at a proper greeting with nerves clearly radiating out of him. "He might try his best to get himself killed in the process, but I'm gonna be around to protect him too," Lance added.

        " _Hey_ ," Keith muttered, his tone embarrassed and he shoved his shoulder lightly against Lance. Lance just laughed and laid his head on Keith's shoulder. His eyes shut for a moment, trying to will the happy tears back.

        "Keith? _The_ Keith?" Lance's mother asked, and he could hear her smile and her teasing all rolled together. He could have just kept his eyes closed known what her face looked like at that moment. He didn't have to do that anymore though. He didn’t have to imagine her. He'd spent so very, very long doing that. Now he could _see_ her. He pulled up his hand to forcefully wipe the tears from his eyes and opened them again.

        "Yeah, Mama," he said.

        "What's _the_ Keith mean?" Keith asked quietly, still a little stiff. He'd clearly never been introduced to anyone's parents before. He was cute. He was perfect. Lance squeezed his arm tighter.

        "Ah. Well, it's good to meet you, sweetie. Don't let that boy get himself into too much trouble, okay?" She said in her Mom voice. It managed to be both stern and warm in the perfect doses. Keith sat up straighter again.

        "Yes Mom-ma-Ma'am," Keith stammered, in the most serious of voices, like he was taking on a real mission. Lance and his mother chuckled in almost perfect unison, only varied by the time the message took to travel across Pidge's Comm link. Lance felt like he might start crying again. His hand slipped down into Keith's and squeezed. Keith didn't take his eyes dutifully off the parent he was meeting, but his fingers interlocked with Lance's and squeezed back.

        "Mom is fine sweetie," she assured, "Everyone calls me mom," she said with a chuckle. Lance beamed.

        "Because you are the obvious Alpha Mom of the neighborhood! No, galaxy. I can say that now! I’ve checked" Lance replied back with gusto. It was true. Dinner at his house was a treasured thing in the neighborhood. He would swear half his friends in grade school were just in it for the quality momming. He'd pouted one night, saying so much, and his mom had offered to stop bringing in snacks. He'd instantly taken it all back.

        "Oh please," she shot back waving her hand. He caught a glimpse of her wedding ring, glinting in the lamp light.

         “Oh. OH! Hey! Ma look! I got engaged!” Lance suddenly burst, sitting himself up enough to thrust the ring hand towards the screen. He could _feel_ the absolute horror in tension of the arm he still held onto. There was a choked sound trying to escape Keith in some sort of denial.

         “Oh?” there was a playful grin on his mother’s face, clearly seeing the horror that was written over Keith’s face. “I guess I’ll be getting two sons back when you get home. I think that will be nice,” she noted. Lance felt Keith relax, and that was the Mom Magic right there. Keith couldn’t be upset if it got him an in with the best mom in the universe.

        Then her smile wavered and she put a hand over her mouth.

        "What?" Lance said, pushing up off Keith, though he kept their hands together.

        "I'm just so glad you're okay," she said through her fingers, "Lance... I ..." the screen wavered and Lance's heart stammered at the thought of losing his mom to technical difficulties. He nearly leapt right out of his seat, but the screen righted itself.

        "It was so long without any answers. So, long... I had to assume—“ she cut off a half sob, and straightened up. “But you're here, baby, you're right here in front of me. And if I could just be there with you," she held the hand in front of her mouth with her other, clutching them together. Her eyes finally welled over. "I love you. I love you so much. You be safe--I know you don't have a lot of time! They told me. But you be safe!" she demanded more sternly.

        "I promise." She looked like she wanted to reach out to him. Lance would do anything to have a hug from his mom at that moment. He'd fight every goddamn evil emperor and space witch and giant killer robot in the universe to hug his mom again. "I love you too, Mama," he said. He sniffed and grinned, "I'm going to have so much awesome stuff to tell you when I get home," he assured. She beamed back at him, though a few tears escaped the corners of her eyes.

        "When you get home," she said with such solidness, such motherly knowing, that Lance was more certain of it than he’d been in a long time, “you will tell me _everything_.” He nodded vigorously.

        "And you'll make dinner!" he burst.

        "What do you want?" she asked with a smile.

        "Anything."

        "Anything it is. You’re eating right up there, right?" she asked, her mom instinct overwhelming her.

        "Hunks here! Hunks okay too!" He said, suddenly aware that this was also very important information. "He's cooking for us and you know he’s great at that! Just not as good as you..."

        "Good. Good. I'm glad you have good friends taking care of you up there. Pidge seems like a good girl. And The rest too," she paused, "Bring them back for dinner when you get home, okay?"

        "Definitely," Lance agreed.

        "And Keith," she added.

        "Yeah... I'd... thank you," Keith said, still not knowing how to act.

        "Of course, Keith too!" Lance said, pressing a slobbering, snotty kiss on his cheek. To his credit, he didn't even flinch. It got a snort of a laugh from his mother.

        "Lance-" she started. A little green indicator flashed up from the corner of the screen.

        "I'm sorry," Pidge's voice cut across, seeming incredibly reluctant. They all knew what it meant in an instant.

        "Already?" Lance burst, his heart twisting in his chest.

        "It's okay," his mother said in a soothing voice. "It's okay. I know you're okay. That's all I needed. You just keep safe out there, and come home for dinner," her voice warbled at the end, but she stuck through the words with admirable resilience. Lance didn't have it. Maybe it came with age, or maybe it was just something you could do when it was for your kid. Lance let out a sob.

        "Yeah. Yeah mama, I definitely will," he promised and wiped at his eyes.

        "I love you." Her voice was everything. It was family dinners and Earth and _Home_.

        "I love you too," he managed to sneak in before the video cut.

 

 

        The two paladins were plunged into a sudden silence without the woman’s melodious voice filling the cottage. Every sniffling breath was only muffled by the constant padding of water across the rooftop. It was only a few seconds but it felt like a lifetime and Keith waited to see if Lance would be okay. His hand kept the tight squeeze from the end of the call, kept tense and fixed.

        Finally, his shoulders fell, his fingers relaxed. They stayed in Keith's but loosened enough for the circulation to return.

        "Thanks," Lance said after another long moment. Keith looked down at him, still tucked against his arm. He stared back up at him with red, puffy eyes. He was smiling almost as much as he had been while talking to his mother, but it was tinged with a sadness. Keith supposed that made sense.

        "It was mostly Pidge. She'd just made the connection earlier today and..." Keith tried, because honestly it hadn't been his plan at all. Lance shook his head though.

        "No just... thank you for all of this," he said, looking around. "And just... thank you," he said softly. Keith wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't sure what there was _to_ say. Lots, really, but nothing he knew how to put into words. Words had never been his forte.

        "No problem," he finally settled on, and Lance laughed. “So, your mom already knew you were Bi?” he asked after a moment.

         “Hmm? Oh no, I di-OH no!” Lance’s eyes widened. “Pidge! Pidge tell my mom I’m not gay!” Lance was suddenly shouting as he fumbled at Keith’s Comm, nearly diving around him to snatch it from his belt.

         “I’m not lying to your mom for you,” Pidge replied grumpily from the other side

         “No! I mean tell her that I’m bi!” he insisted. Keith’s hand had fallen out of his.

         “What does it matter?” Keith asked, sounding a little… annoyed? Lance turned around to see a little frown sitting on his lips. He didn’t look mad so much as grumpy. “She seemed fine with you having a boyfriend.”

         “That’s not it at all! She should just _know_ because she’s my _mom_ ,” he insisted. She would have been the first person he came out to when he went home, no question.

         “I think she’ll figure it out,” Keith said, with a relieved sigh. “Seeing as how you are a horrible flirt with just about every pretty girl you come within a mile radius of… but are dating me.”

        Lance calmed a little. He supposed that was fair enough. He still wished he’d told her properly. He wished he had had time to say of lot of things properly. If Pidge had this whole Comm network set up, though, that meant they might get to make more calls. His heart ached a little less at the thought. Keith’s hand finding his again soothed it the rest of the way.

 

 

        They slept there, eating the surprisingly good cream puffs into the night, curled up on the bed. The rain never ceased the whole time and Keith hadn't realized that he'd find peace in it too. Rain had never had a strong place in his heart before. He had found it interesting to watch storms pass in the distance, but by the time it got to him they always felt like just a hassle. Having Lance in his arms, with just enough of a chill breeze to make cuddling into blankets necessary, though, made the soft pattering and wet smell seem just right. He felt like there was something poetic in the moment. Something to say about Lance being like rain. He couldn’t figure out what it was though, so he gave up thinking and just enjoyed it.

 

 

        The morning came, quiet and warm colored, shining through curtains.

        They'd slept for a solid 10 vargas and it was barely nearing sunrise. The world felt dreamy and perfect as Lance blinked awake. He pushed himself languidly up and hovered over Keith.

        He smiled.

 

 

        The world was pink and soft and Lance kissed him with lips equally dream-like. Lance settled on top of him, a knee to either side of his hips. He looked down at him.

         “So, Hunk told you that I needed a romantic date if you wanted to get laid, huh?” he asked, he was wearing an amused smirk under his accusatory tone. Keith felt his entire brain pause. He must have been staring dumbly up at Lance because he started to look concerned. “Keith? Look it’s not like I’m mad,” Lance started.

         “I forgot,” Keith blurted when his brain started working again.

         “What?” Lance pushed up to sit a little more upright. Keith threw a hand over his face. He had completely forgotten that was the point of all this. “Oh my god, Keith. You _actually_ forgot you were planning an elaborate ‘Get Keith Laid’ scheme?” he asked, almost sounding outraged. Lance yanked Keith’s hand down.

         “I got so carried away,” he said, trying to bring his other hand up over his face instead. Lance grabbed his wrist before he could and pinned it down. Keith couldn’t be bothered to care, though. He couldn’t stop laughing. There had just been so much going on…

        Keith was surprised, when he calmed down, that Lance hadn’t started teasing him yet. He opened his eyes to see Lance staring intently at him, seeming surprisingly serious.

         “You’re such a dork.” His voice was so serious that Keith snorted and started laughing again. It was too early for this. He didn’t have the brain capacity to deal with anything yet. He was still asleep and Lance—Lance was kissing him again.

         “You are the biggest, hugest, dork in the world,” Lance said against his lips between kisses, or half smooshed into them. Keith let himself be smooched and nuzzled and affectionately doted on. But suddenly everything spun. Or, well, _he_ spun at least when Lance grabbed him and rolled them over. Keith was only able to stop himself from crashing down into Lance by his combat training skills jumping him to alertness. He found himself on top of Lance, now, who was already casually pulling off his shirt.

        At Keith’s confused stare, Lance explained, “It worked.”

         “Huh?”

         “The romantic date. Let’s go. Pants off, babe. You remembered the lube, right?” Lance said, undoing his own pants.

         “Uhh…” Keith had to think. _Had_ he forgotten it? “Oh!” he leapt off the bed and started to his travel bag. He heard Lance chuckling behind him, but he didn’t care if he seemed over eager. He _was_ over eager. He turned around just in time to see something careening at his head. He snatched it out of the air before it hit his face. He then realized they were Lance’s boxers.  Keith did the only logical thing in response, tossed off his own boxers and booked it back over to his naked, waiting boyfriend.

         “Are you sure?” he asked, as he slipped back between his legs.

         “Yep,” Lance said matter of factly. Keith nodded, surprised he was nervous after all the steps toward this they’d already made. He was more nervous than the other times he’d almost gotten laid, even. He wasn’t sure what made this time more nerve wracking. Maybe it was because Lance _wasn’t_ nervous or hiding his face. Just pressing their bodies together and pulling Keith’s hands where he wanted them.

         “Just let me know if you need me to stop,” Keith said, his finger not quite pressing forward enough.

         “I know,” Lance said reassuringly and shifted his hips to urge Keith forward. Keith didn’t need a _lot_ of encouragement to push into Lance, of course. He felt skittish, still. It might have been because this time felt a little more real, despite the surreal, dreamy surroundings. Keith knew there was no one around for miles. The alien that ran the little inn let him know it was private and perfect for ‘romantic getaways’ when he’d contacted him. He was ecstatic to rent the place out during the rainy reason.

        The soft pattering of rain and pinkish lighting of the red sun filtering through the light overcast of the sky, all felt etheral, contrasting with the heat and solidity of Lance under him and around him as he pressed into him.

        Keith had two fingers in Lance and that was it. That was how far they’d previously gotten. His hand slowly stilled and he looked up to find Lance’s head turned away. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be concentrating, biting his lip lightly.

         “Lance. Are you still good?” he asked.

         “Yes,” he let out in a huff that almost sounded annoyed, his eyebrows furrowing, but then his expression softened as he turned his head to look down at Keith. He smiled, “I _promise_ I’ll tell you if you need to stop,” he assured.

         “Okay, I-” Keith’s fingers started to pull out of Lance, but he stopped when Lance cut in.

         “I have, right?” He asked. Keith paused and then nodded. “I promise I still will,” he assured. “So, just a little bit more,” Lance urged, letting his head fall back again.

        Keith pressed forward, feeling his nerves grow every step further they got.

        When Lance stopped him, he thought for a moment Lance was done. He felt his heart stammer when instead he said the corniest thing possible.

         “Com’ere big boy. I think I’m ready for you.”

        Somewhere in the back of Keith’s mind he felt like he should have rolled his eyes or at least have been embarrassed by the words. He couldn’t focus on that more reasonable side of his brain while Lance was laying there, waiting for him, though.

        Between Lance and him, and with a good amount of fumbling around, they managed to get the space condom on Keith and shift into a reasonably comfortable position for Lance. Lance didn’t give him time to think about things before urging him forward.

         “Keeeith! You’re getting too serious! Just fuck me!” Lance shouted. And he really shouted it, full volume. Keith, on instinct, ducked his head, as if that could hide them from the nonexistent people who could’ve heard. He shot a glare to Lance, even if he knew there was no one around for miles.

         “There, that’s better, babe,” Lance said with a self-satisfied smirk. He wiggled a little, settling in and looking to Keith expectantly. “Remember, you’re supposed to be paying attention to me. Get outa your head and appreciate how amazing I am!” Lance demanded. Keith couldn’t glare at that one.

         “You’re right,” he agreed, leaning forward to give him a quick peck. He still felt hesitant as he lined himself up. It felt like there should be another step, one more thing to consider, one more obstacle, but there wasn’t. It was just him and Lance. Lance wiggled a tiny bit in anticipation and Keith put a hand to his hip to still him, or maybe to still himself. He pressed himself forward slowly, into Lance and watched himself disappear, felt him wrapped around every inch of him.

        When he finally was entirely in him, he stilled, trying to keep himself calm. His eyes shot up, realizing he hadn’t even thought to look at his face and that was such a waste to miss. He found Lance staring back at him, mouth open as if he were about to say something.

         “Are you okay?” Keith breathed out, not sure how he had enough oxygen in him at that moment.

         “Yeah. Yeayeayeah. I’m good,” Lance replied in a rush. He pulled his knees up enough so he could hook his heals around the back of Keith’s thighs to shift them together. “You can move. _Please_ move,” Lance said, encouraging him on.

         “Okay. Okay… you’re sure?” Keith asked, hesitantly.

        Lance threw his head back with an exaggerated sigh of exasperation. “I will roll us over and do it myself if you don’t--,” he cut off when Keith shifted between his legs, and inside of him. He inhaled sharply.

         “No no. I got this,” Keith insisted. He wanted Lance to sit back and just enjoy this. It had seemed like this is how Lance wanted it their first time, at least. He hoped it was. He pulled out as slowly as he’d moved in, but Lance’s impatient noise had him pushing back in a little faster.

         “There we go, pretty boy,” Lance’s voice was breathy and teasing. If just the feeling of Lance, tight and hot around him, hadn’t been enough to encourage him, that tone was. Keith shifted his balance so he could get a good pace going, sliding in and out of Lance with a steady rhythm. He never pushed too hard, but let Lance’s leg wrap around him and pull him in sharper, now and again.

         “Ah, god. Of course, you’re good at this,” Lance half complained, grabbing Keith’s shoulders. Keith didn’t think he was really doing much special at the moment, but that didn’t stop Lance from talking, “Wait, wait, yeah, there. Holy hell,” he rambled, a string of compliments trailing off his lips that made Keith blush more than anything else they were doing.

        As things kept building, Keith wanted to make Lance come first. He’d had the idea that he’d make him come and get to see the look on his face, and feel him tighten around him like in some trashy gay romance novel, the sort he certainly never hid under his mattress back at the garrison (and _certainly_ never had to consider breaking back into his old school when he realized he left it under said mattress). He was quickly realizing that was asking for a lot of self-control. It was already too much to deal with, Lance under him, around him, fingers clinging to him as he rocked back against him.

        One of Lance’s hands broke free from its death grip on his shoulder to grab Keith’s. For a moment, he thought they were supposed to hold hands, which was kinda sweet. It made a bit of a jumbled mess of things as he was trying to lace their fingers and Lance was trying to shove his hand towards his dick between them. It was sorted out quick enough and neither had the mental capacity to tease the other for the incident. Instead, Keith just wrapped his fingers around Lance’s erection and tried his best to make Lance as much a panting mess as he was.

        Lance had picked up a perfect complimentary rhythm, their bodies moving together with an ease that probably came from all that combat training they did together. Lance’s hands had found their way back onto his shoulders, still wanting something to hold onto. His mouth never seemed to run dry of the praise. Keith nearly couldn’t stand it all.

        He felt it all hit him at once, pushing him over. His hips stuttered and he instinctively pushed every inch of himself into Lance as he came.

        He paused there for a long moment, just to breath. Lance interrupted his recovery.

         “Babe, please move your hand,” Lance murmured, “I’m so close, please. Just a little more,” he insisted, his own fingers wrapping around Keith’s, which had stopped with the rest of him. Having caught his breath, Keith carefully slid out of Lance. He glanced between their hands and Lance’s face, a mess of muttering demands. He caught those lips after a pause and took back over, pulling his hand over his erection until he was whispering his name into his lips, ruining the kiss at the end. Keith just smiled against him and felt him come into his hand.

        They rested for a moment, quietly, Keith not quite willing to fully move away from him as he planted small pecks and kisses over his lips and cheeks and nose and eyelids. Finally, Lance breathily laughed and swatted his affections away.

         “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love you too,” Lance insisted.

        Keith stopped. He felt satisfied. He also felt sticky. He shifted towards the edge of the bed and stood up to clean himself up a little. When he returned, Lance was leaning on his side, waiting for him.

         “So, when are we gonna go on another _romantic date_ like this again?” he asked with a smirk.

        Keith let himself flop down onto the bed next to him. “Give me like... 10 minutes or so,” Keith requested, hiding his smirk into a pillow. Lance was silent for a moment before a hand came down on his shoulder with a resounding smacking sound. Lance was laughing. Keith felt the morning grogginess returning even with Lance’s ruckus behavior. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the time or the rain, or just finally getting to fuck his boyfriend, but he could feel himself fading. He reached out for Lance and pulled him in to cuddle.

         “Thanks,” Lance muttered into Keith’s chest as he tucked the taller man under his chin.

         “You already thanked me,” Keith reminded. It really felt like he should be giving the ‘thank you’s right about now.

         “Still. Thanks for the cheesy date and being patient and… everything,” he replied.

         “Everyone helped out with the date stuff,” Keith replied, feeling like Lance should know at least 75% of this date was put together by the other paladins. Keith felt a soft punch ram into his gut.

         “Just let me appreciate you,” Lance demanded, nuzzling into him more forcefully.

         “Fine! Fine!” Keith said, pulling him in tighter so he wouldn’t have the space to throw another punch. “I’m appreciated!”

         “Good,” a muffled response came from where Lance was smooshed against him. Keith loosened his grip. They lapsed back into silence and Keith could feel himself falling back asleep, with the soft sound of water, and Lance’s gangly limbs slowly weaving their way around him. In that peaceful silence he thought about what Lance had said to his mom, about the ring he’d given him.

        He hadn’t thought about it like he was proposing. That felt ridiculous to even consider doing. He did give the ring to Lance, though, to say he wanted him to always be there to challenge him. He had meant it. The idea of Lance not being around sounded increasingly impossible. So, it wasn’t a proposal ring yet, but maybe it would be someday…

        For now, he was just happy knowing he would be there to come home to. He wasn’t sure the last time he had a home. Not the sort with people waiting for you. Maybe the Paladins were the first time he really did have his own home.

        Keith kissed the top of Lance’s head and hoped he could be part of Home for Lance as well.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU ALL FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS AND KUDOS AND BOOKMARKS THROUGHOUT THIS FIC!  
> It's been really lovely hearing from you, particularly you sweeties that have commented on every chapter. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me~  
> I hope you've enjoyed this romp through soft sci-fi and smut. It ended up crazy long, but it was fun getting off track now and again.
> 
> Stay tuned for the two short side stories!
> 
> ♥♥♥


	13. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith learns something new about KJ.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, I was originally going to have Pidge's Mission as a short aside, but, of course, it ended up much longer than I intended. So, I'm just going with this short epilogue and closing this fic out.
> 
> I _DO_ plan to post Pidge's Mission story, but it will be in a separate piece. I'm planning on collecting up all my weird little Pidge short stories for "Pidge in Space", a collection of weird little sci-fi shorts featuring Pidge. It'll stay in this universe so I'll be adding it to [It's Still Happening](http://archiveofourown.org/series/587095) (preemptive sorry because I have no idea when I'll get to posting those though, haha).

       Keith threw the fraxafaelis over with a solid hand against her flank. Kayjay rolled with the shove, all the way over and back to her feet. Every one of them were instantly set apart in a wide, crouched stance. Her throat gurgled and her body was red for a flicker of a second. She reconsidered. In a moment, she was all black, crouching low. She was ready to hunt.

       Keith dropped down to the floor on his hands, dramatically matching her stance. She rattled and the gurgling grew faster, but lower, her excitement clashing with her natural hunting instincts. Keith leaned down to get level, shimmying his shoulders as if he was preparing to pounce. Kayjay’s plated fur slowly rose at the provocation, like a character in a Miyazaki film, growing with the intensity of the situation. She stopped rattling her plates, or showing any of her red to Keith. Instead slowly made herself bigger, a black mass. She was all red from the other side. If she were protecting someone, putting herself between them and Keith, all they would see was the bright warning red. It was her saying she was taking care of things. Today, though, there was nothing behind her to protect. Lance was away on a mission still. It was just a ploy to convince Keith she was bigger and more threatening than she really was.

       Keith swiped at Kayjay, just as her crouch deepened and she was about to launch herself at him. She rolled away from the hand without even being touched. In an instant, she was back to ready, a little less puffed up this time. She checked quickly for opening to attack. Keith swiped with the other hand and she rolled the other way. She was wild eyed now, coat slicked back tight to her sides to make herself a smaller target.

       Keith pushed himself up so he could throw both hands forward, harassing her with a double sided attack. He knew this was cheating. She tossed her head back and forth as she tried to gnaw at both hands at once. She managed to get neither into her mouth successfully with the divided attention. She barely even closed her mouth in the overwhelming excitement of the onslaught of hands. She left it gaping open as she threw her head back and forth.

       Keith pulled back as quickly as he’d thrown his hands in. She had a confused moment, her head still darting around to find his next attacking hand. When she realized no further attack was forth coming, she hurried to get back into a defensive stance. Her fur still slicked back, she lowered herself close to the ground, tight and protective after the attack.

       In response, Keith rose up, throwing his arms up. KJ followed suit in pure excitement. She reached up and out with her front two arms, like he did. Before Kayjay had fallen back down, Keith threw an arm in towards her now exposed belly. She couldn’t protect herself fast enough before his attack landed.

       So, she did the only thing to do. She grabbed the arm with six of her legs, rolling into her back and keeping hold of it while she kicked at it with her backmost legs. This was why Keith was wearing long sleeves. She didn’t even bring out her teeth, opting to focus on holding the arm rather than gnawing at it. She acted like she'd been the one to catch Keith and kept a strong grip even as he rolled her back and forth wildly.

       When she’d had enough, it was sudden. She curled up and kicked him away with half of her feet as the other half released him. Even as she did, she started to twist around to get back onto her feet. Her front feet hit the ground before her back most ones had even started to turn. She looked like the twist should break her back, but she didn't even notice it. She was back on her feet. Ready.

       Keith laughed and stood up.

       "Okay. That’s enough, girlie," he said, affectionately. They’d been playing this game for a solid half hour and it was time to call it quits. Kayjay, of course, didn’t like this decision and opted to ignore it. She leapt at his heels as he got up to leave. Sometimes she could goad him into coming back to play more. Eventually she realized he was determined to be no more fun, and gave up. She started walking after him, calm as could be, as if she hadn't been latched around his shin, biting at his laces a moment before.

       Keith checked his watch. Soon he wouldn't be her favorite anymore. He flopped himself down on the lounge’s couch and Kayjay followed. She still tried to scamper into his seat, like usual. Lance tried to claim his BO just reminded her of home, which was how he explained why Keith found her sleeping in his laundry basket so often. Keith was pretty sure Lance just wanted to say he smelled bad. Either way, if Kayjay was around, his seat was always bumped over one. He’d learned to accept this.

       The little alien creature walked back and forth over him a few times, surveying the area as she calmed down from ‘hunting mode’. After four or five back and forths, she settled down in Keith’s spot, right up against Keith’s side. She clung onto him like he was a tree, with her top half at least. The bottom half was still on the couch, forcing an awkward looking 90° angle in her posture. She didn’t seem to mind, though. Keith let his hand run down, following the flow of her plates as she settled in.

 

        “You and Junior taking a nap?” Hunk’s voice startled Keith awake. He’d be annoyed if it were anyone but Hunk, because with Hunk came the smell of baked goods.

        “Huh?” Keith said, he took a cookie off the plate hovering in front of his groggy face. “Who?” he asked around a mouth full of fresh out of the oven, soft, sweet, and a little bit spicy, goodness.

        “You. You and Junior,” Hunk repeated. Kayjay had perked up at the noise and a paw shot up to pull the plate down towards her. Hunk lowered it and let her sniff the cookies. She quickly realized this was not Kayjay food and turned her head back towards Keith’s armpit. She stuck her nose into it to replace the baked goods smell. Keith jerked a little and shoved her head out of his armpit with a scowl down at her.

        “Who’s Junior?” Keith asked. He wondered if he was just still waking up, or this was one of those things he just didn’t quite get. Hunk stared at him blankly before pointing to Kayjay.

        “Why is Kajay Junior?” he asked. There was a long pause.

        “Because K.J. stands for Keith Junior…?” Hunk replied slowly, as if he were dumb, “as in you’re Keith Senior.” Keith took a long moment to process that.

        “What?” He asked, pausing his cookie consumption.

        “What did you think it meant? Did you never ask what it stood for?” Hunk was suddenly laughing and Keith felt himself turning red.

        “I-wha-no! I just assumed it was Kayjay. Like that was just the name,” he said, “I don’t know!” he half shouted as Hunk’s laughter only got louder. It wasn’t _that_ funny.

        “Man, that’s good stuff!” Hunk announced. “It’s been almost a year!” Keith reached out and snatched the plate of cookie. “Hey!”

        “All right, all right, I get it I’m slow,” Keith said, remembering all the little comments Lance and the rest had made. He remembered all the teasing he hadn’t understood and just assumed he’d missed the joke. Maybe he’d just been missing context, not social skills for once.

        “Aww, it’s not that bad,” Hunk said, reaching for the plate. Keith pulled it away.

        “No. It’s the cost of laughing at me. I know you have more. You know better than to bring out the full supply in case you get mobbed,” Keith said, keeping the plate expertly out of reach. Hunk sighed.

        “Fine. But that’s half of them! That’s a steep price for a giggle,” Hunk griped.

        “Think before you giggle next time,” Keith said sternly, shoving a whole cookie in his mouth. Apparently, just the word giggle coming out of Keith’s mouth, particularly in such a serious voice, was enough to throw Hunk over the edge again. He was laughing as he conceded the plate to Keith, heading back to the kitchen. Keith smiled a little to himself.

 

       Keith’s wrist beeped just as he was finishing the last cookie, because, yes, he really meant it when he said he was eating the whole plate. There was no sharing apology cookies… or any Hunk cookies if you had an excuse not to.

       Lance, Pidge and Shiro were getting back from their diplomatic trip to the Olkari’s home world. Keith got up, letting _Keith Junior_ flop down as he stood. After a bit of blinking and confusion she seemed to get excited. She always somehow knew when Lance was back. Maybe she’d mind melded with him, or maybe Keith was just that obvious. Either way the two of them headed for the docking bay. She ran circles around his feet as he walked. He’d learned to lift his feet a little extra when Lance came home because this was how she showed her excitement, by tripping people.

       Keith managed to snag her as they were nearing the dock. She let out a rumbly sound in her throat and wiggled, clearly spotting Lance just as she was caught. He held her out dramatically as he stood in the doorway to the docking bay.

        “Anyone wanna explain why I just learned we have two Keiths on the ship?” He asked, loudly over the chatter of the paladins returning and discussing their mission. Lance froze, eyes going wide shooting from Keith to Keith. Keith wasn’t sure if it was because he never planned for that fact to get out, or because he realized only then he’d never told Keith.

        “You never told him you named it Keith?” Shiro was asking.

        “Keith never realized her name was Keith?” Pidge asked at the same time.

        “Keith, baby!” Lance started his voice the schmutzy one he used when he’d done something undeniably wrong, but not unforgivably wrong. He stepped quickly towards Keith arms open. Keith wasn’t really mad and barely embarrassed anymore, the plate of cookies had helped with that. He was, however, ready to force Lance to apologize on principle. It was stupid that he hadn’t told him.

        “Don’t ‘baby’ me. I’m Keith _Senior_ now, according to Hunk,” Keith informed. That was, admittedly, funny when he thought about it. All the same, he kept a straight face when Lance neared. As soon as he was within reach, KJ was attached. He stepped forward, smothering her between them and she didn’t seem to mind.

        “It makes you sound dignified,” he informed, shoving a kiss onto his cheek. Keith tsk’ed, in his best attempt to keep from laughing. “You can’t tell me she’s not _just like you_ ,” Lance tried.

       Keith did laugh then. He pushed him away, trying to hand over his namesake as well. She already clung to Lance so well he barely had to hold her at all. Which was a good thing because Lance was too busy refusing to let go of Keith (senior), to grab her.

        “No really! She’s randomly aggressive, loves pointy, shiny objects,” Lance was peppering Keith’s face with kisses, but he pulled back to finish, “And she loves me unconditionally, even when I forget to tell her silly things, like who else has her name.” He was grinning in the way that meant he knew he’d gotten away with it. He had, of course, but Keith rolled his eyes to make it clear it wasn’t because of his stupid little speech. His grin turned toothy and Keith shoved him back.

        “I’m not randomly aggressive,” he argued. Lance raised an eyebrow at Keith, looking from the hand that had just shoved him to his shoulder which had just been shoved.

        “That doesn’t count, it wasn’t random. You deserved it,” he insisted. Instead of responding Lance made a face that just screamed a slow sarcastic “suuuuuuure” as he helped the clinging fraxafaelis to scamper around him. She curled over his shoulder, latching on and laying her head down.

        “Nah, just give it up,” Pidge said heading towards the door behind him. “The only way I can tell you two apart is by who tries to eat my spare screws if I leave them around,” she informed, patting his shoulder apologetically as she went by.

        “I picked up that sharpening kit you asked for, by the way,” Shiro added, as he handed over a bundle. Keith scowl at him and Shiro barely kept a straight face before following after Pidge quickly. Pidge snorted at they shared a glance. They power walked away when Keith shot a glare over his shoulder.

       Keith sighed a little, tucking the bundle under one arm and reaching over to pet KJ’s head, resting on Lance’s shoulder. He rubbed between her eyes and she made a happy little rumbly noise, melting into Lance even more.

        “Fine. We’re basically the same person,” Keith finally agreed. “Happy?” he asked, forcing a frown. He lost it as soon as he looked up at Lance. He was smiling at him, but it wasn’t teasing anymore, it was just soft and genuine, the kind that made Keith feel a little fluttery and stupid inside.

        “Yeah,” Lance said, nodding, “I’m pretty happy.”

        “Well good!” Keith said petulantly, but he knew he was smiling back now. He leaned in and pushed a quick peck on his lips. “But tell me if you name anything else after me, okay?” he demanded.

        “All right,” he laughed.

       They still had a way to go before they perfected their communication. They were improving, though, and, well, they would just have to keep working at it…

       Either that or he would have to name his pet cactus Lance and not tell him for a year or two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for all your kudos, bookmarks, and lovely lovely comments throughout this fic! You're all way too wonderful!!! ♥
> 
> For those of you interested, I'm currently falling deeper and deeper into a series of AUs that would make Slav proud  
> Currently Posting: [Blade of Marmora Lance AU](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12173379)  
> Also in the line up: Altean Lance AU, Humans as Part of the Galactic Community AU, and like twelve other half formed ideas.
> 
> Let me know if there's anything you're curious about and want to see me write!
> 
> AND THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!!!!


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